Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the official renaming of the monkeypox virus to mpox. The terms will be used interchangeably over a one-year transition period. After the year, WHO will refer to the virus entirely as mpox.
Prior to the change, international scientists and representatives from around the world had submitted feedback and criticisms of the original name and ultimately led WHO to this effort. They observed the racist, discriminatory use of the term targeted at Black and LGBTQIA+ communities, and in turn, encouraged formulating a new name instead, to eliminate such a use.
Usually, the renaming process for diseases can take WHO a couple of years. However, WHO accelerated the process for mpox to just one year in response to the stigmatization that affected the LGBTQOA+ community, including men who have sex with men (MSM).
The United States will implement the official use of mpox in common terminology beginning this year through the CDC, with website and record updates already in motion.
The original name of the disease came in 1958, upon its discovery in captive monkeys. In 2015, WHO updated their naming process for diseases in a report published on WHO’s new best practices. It includes a recommendation for naming a new disease in a way that does not have “a negative impact on trade, travel, tourism, or animal welfare” or that it does not offend “any cultural, social, national, regional, professional or ethnic groups.”