Health Officials Pushing to Rename Monkeypox

The push to rename the monkeypox virus isn’t brand new by any means. Ever since the initial outbreak earlier this year, scientists and activists alike have led the push to rename the virus to something “non-discriminatory” and “non-stigmatizing,” though change has admittedly been slow.

To understand the entire issue, it’s helpful to go back to the beginning. Scientists have been calling the virus “monkeypox” for 64 years. The first two outbreaks of a “pox-like disease” were discovered in 1958 by researcher Preben von Magnus and his team in Copenhagen, Denmark. The outbreaks were in a colony of crab-eating macaque monkeys their lab used for polio vaccine production and research, CNN reports.

The first human case of monkeypox wasn’t documented until 1970, in a 9-month-old boy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and cases of the disease were documented since in West and Central Africa. Monkeypox likely didn’t start in monkeys, either. Its true origin remains unknown, and the virus can be found in several other animals like Gambian giant rats, dormice, and certain squirrel species.

As New York Times writer Andrew Jacobs states in an August report, “Monkeypox is more than just a misnomer. Many experts say the word evokes racist stereotypes, reinforces offensive tropes about Africa as a perilous, pestilence-filled continent and abets the kind of stigmatization that can prevent people from seeking medical care.”

Dr. Ifeanyi Nsofor, a public health expert in Nigeria, tells the Times that the monkeypox dynamic is similar to the early days of the AIDS crisis, with Africa unfairly implicated in the global spread of the disease, leaving many to hide their illness and avoid seeking medical help.

This is further exasperated, as the current outbreak has disproportionately affected men and people assigned male at birth who have sex with other men and AMAB people. It works to reinforce that societally-imposed fear and shame, especially in countries where same-gender relationships are taboo or even illegal.

In June, more than a dozen scientists across Africa published an open letter urging the World Health Organization (WHO) to move quickly to change the name. Failing to do so, they said, could risk ongoing efforts to keep the virus contained. After weeks passed and WHO took no further action, the New York City health commissioner sent another letter to WHO urging it to act before it’s too late. The letter notes “growing concern for the potentially devastating and stigmatizing effects that the messaging around the ‘monkeypox’ virus can have on these already vulnerable communities.”

Center for Disease Control (CDC) data also shows found that the virus is disproportionately affecting Black and Hispanic people in the U.S., and local health data finds that fewer members of either community are getting vaccinated. Experts are concerned that some people may avoid getting the vaccine or tested because of the stigma associated with the disease, in addition to other barriers that can make healthcare access a challenge.

The ultimate name change could go a number of directions, as more than 180 idea ideas have been suggested after WHO encouraged new suggestions in August. The WHO committee has until June 2023 to suggest changes. Though, some U.S. health departments aren’t waiting, resulting in inconsistent language. San Francisco’s Department of Health calls it MPX, while Chicago’s calls it MPV. Other cities like Houston, New York City, and Philadelphia have stuck with the initial name, alongside the CDC.

(OFM made the style change in mid-August to refer to the virus as “monkeypox” on first reference, for clarity, along with “MPV” in parentheses and used on subsequent references. Due to the specific nature of this story, we’ve used “monkeypox” for clarity.)

Daniel Driffin, an HIV patient advocate and consultant with NMAC, a national organization working for health equity and racial justice to end the HIV epidemic, tells CNN the name is “steeped in racism” and while he thinks the name change will help, it’s a “day late and a dollar short.”

“Think about the populations who will continue to be impacted disproportionately with this disease,” Driffin says. “It’s been Black and Brown folks, so if we can strip racist oppressive tendencies from the nomenclature, I think we have to do that.”