Scientists in advanced discussion with World Health Organization to adopt neutral language for monkeypox
A group of 29 scientists from across the world have urged the scientific community and world health leaders to adopt a more neutral language when discussing the ongoing monkeypox outbreak and the strains causing it, in a position paper published June 10, 2022.
Their efforts are supported by the Africa Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and are in advanced discussion with the World Health Organization (WHO).
“In the context of the current global outbreak, continued reference to, and nomenclature of this virus being African is not only inaccurate but is also discriminatory and stigmatising,” the authors noted.
The virus is behaving differently as has been understood in African countries, according to health experts. Longer chains of human-to-human transmission, lesions in the anal and genital area and a predominant prevelance in the men who have sex with men are some of the key standout features that have been recorded.
Keeping the first one in mind, the scientists said:
It is well established that nearly all MPXV outbreaks in Africa prior to the 2022 outbreak have been the result of spillover from animals to humans and only rarely have there been reports of sustained human-to-human transmissions.
The first human case of monkeypox was reported in 1970 from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Genome sequencing thereafter confirmed that there are two strains of the virus — the less deadly West African strain with a case fatality rate of around 3 per cent and the Congo Basin clade with a case fatality rate of 10 per cent. The latter has not yet been found in any country outside Africa.
The authors also objected to the use of geographical labels for the nomenclature of different clades of monkeypox. A similar trend was seen with the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants with alpha first being called the UK variant and omicron the South African variant.
While it remains unclear what triggered the most geographically widespread monkeypox outbreak in 50 years, WHO has underlined that undetected transmission for several weeks or longer is a likely cause.
There is, however, a developing narrative in the media and among many scientists that are trying to link the present global outbreak to Africa or West Africa or Nigeria, the authors noted.
An example of this is the use of photos of African patients with monkeypox lesions in media reports from the global north. The Foreign Press Association of Africa expressed displeasure at this bias. The body noted in a May 21 statement:
What is the convenience of using such images to tell the world how Europe and America are reeling from the outbreak of monkeypox? Is the media in the business of ‘preserving White purity’ through ‘Black criminality or culpability’?
“We propose the classification of three main clades; MPXV clades 1, 2 and 3, named in order of detection,” it added. These include viral genomes from Western African, Central African and localised spillover events in global north countries and from both human and non-human hosts, the paper noted.
“Further sequencing of MPXV from the animal reservoir may potentially uncover further clades 4, 5, 6, and so forth,” the scientists wrote.
The paper also suggested renaming the virus — a process that falls under the confines of the International Committee of Taxonomy of Viruses — to something more “distinct and convenient” which will “facilitate communication without further negative connotations.”
“We believe this is an opportunity for a break with the name monkeypox and the historical associations attached to that name,” the authors argued.
Here we use the placeholder label ‘hMPXV’ (human monkeypox) to denote where we believe this now human virus becomes distinct from MPXV, and urge a speedy decision and adoption of a new name, said the authors.
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