When will the name change of monkeypox? The hypothesis already considered last June by the governing body of world health in order to avoid the stigmatization of carriers of the virus, is now an absolute necessity for officials in New York.
The American city has, in fact, requested, via a letter sent Tuesday, July 26, 2022 to the boss of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Ethiopian Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the immediate change of name of this expanding disease in the world since its resurgence with the discovery, in May 2022, of cases in the United Kingdom.
It has since spread to 78 countries, with more than 18,000 infections including five deaths, forcing the WHO to classify it as a public health emergency of international concern.
The seeds of a misunderstanding
Contrary to what its name might suggest, the disease called “monkeypox” in English and whose main source is rodents, has little to do, according to specialists, with monkeys. The latter is associated with it originally because of the discovery of the virus in animals in 1958 in a Danish laboratory.
The general public, of course, is not necessarily aware of this. Especially since the disease was, in the past, rarely located outside the western and central regions of Africa. It is endemic there.
A large proportion of the contaminations identified so far concern homosexual people, even if this community is no more predisposed to it than the rest of the population. Anyone is susceptible to contracting the virus transmitted by contact, according to scientists.
Risks of stigma
These are all sources of potential stigma, according to the municipality of New York, epicenter of the disease in the United States with 1,228 of the 4,639 cases counted as of July 27, 2022 throughout the country by the CDC, the American agency for public health.
“Persisting in calling the epidemic monkey pox could rekindle feelings of racism and stigma against black people, other people of color as well as members of the LGBTQIA+ community”can we read in the letter addressed to the WHO under the pen of Ashwin Vasan, commissioner of Health of the city of New York, available on Twitter.
The municipal authority recalls to this effect the episodes of discrimination experienced by the Asian community at the height of Covid-19 in 2020. In particularly controversial rhetoric, former President Donald Trump spoke publicly at the time of the “chinese virus” in connection with Wuhan, the city in central China where the first cases were discovered.