WHO recommends new name for monkeypox disease

Following a series of consultations with global experts, WHO will begin using the new preferred term “mpox” as a synonym for monkeypox. Both names would be used simultaneously for a year until “monkey pox” was eradicated.

Since the monkeypox outbreak escalated earlier this year, racist and stigmatizing language has been observed and reported to WHO on the Internet, in other settings and in some communities. At the conference, various people and countries expressed their concerns and asked WHO to suggest ways to change the name.

The naming of new and, exceptionally, existing diseases is the responsibility of WHO through a consultative process involving WHO Member States in accordance with the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) and the WHO family of international health-related classifications.

Following the process of updating the ICD, WHO held consultations to obtain input from a number of experts, as well as countries and the general public, who were invited to submit proposals for new names. Based on these additional consultations and discussions with WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhan Ghebreyesus, WHO recommends:

The adoption of a new English synonym for this disease, mpox.
Smallpox would become the preferred term, replacing monkeypox after a year-long transition period. This will help allay experts’ concerns about the confusion caused by the name change during the pandemic.
The synonym mpox will be included in the online ICD-10 in the coming days. It will be part of the official release of ICD-11 in 2023, the current global standard for medical data, clinical documentation and statistical data collection.
The term “monkey pox” continues to be used as an ICD search term to match historical data.
Recommendation considerations include rationale, scientific validity, current range of use, pronunciation, ease of use across languages, lack of geographic or zoological references, and historical science, including ease of retrieval of information.

As a rule, the process of updating the ICD can take several years. In this case, we follow standard procedures, but the process was processed quickly.

During the consultative process, the views of various advisory bodies were heard, including experts from the Medical-Scientific and Classification-Statistical Advisory Committees, consisting of representatives of government bodies from 45 countries.

The issue of using the new name in different languages ​​was discussed in detail. The preferred term mpox can be used in other languages ​​as well. Any additional naming problems that arise are resolved using the same mechanism. Translations are usually discussed in official collaboration with relevant government agencies and relevant scientific organizations.

The WHO has adopted the term mpox in its communications and encourages others to follow these guidelines to minimize the ongoing adverse effects of the current and new names.

Note to editors
Basic information about the name of the disease, the virus that causes it, and the subspecies or clade of the virus:

Disease name:

Monkeypox got its name in 1970 (following the discovery of a virus that caused disease in captive monkeys in 1958) and WHO disease nomenclature best practices were published in 2015 before it was done. Following these best practices, new disease names should minimize unnecessary adverse effects of the name on trade, travel, tourism, or animal welfare, and should not be associated with cultural, social, national, regional, occupational, or ethnic issues. avoidance of resentment.
The naming of new diseases and, exceptionally, existing diseases should be done within the WHO International Classification of Diseases and Related International Classifications of Health (WHO-FIC) following a consultation process. is the responsibility of WHO through Includes WHO Member States. The ICD is part of the WHO family of international health classifications (WHO-FIC).
Name of the virus:
Virus nomenclature is the responsibility of the International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV). Before the global outbreak of monkeypox in 2022, the process of renaming all types of orthopoxviruses was already underway.