Monkeypox is poised to get a new name, the World Health Organization says, after scientists recently criticized the current name as “discriminatory and stigmatizing.” The researchers say it’s also inaccurate to name versions of the virus after parts of Africa.
The WHO is working with experts “on changing the name of monkeypox virus, its clades and the disease it causes,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a briefing on the outbreak on Tuesday.
Tedros is also calling an emergency meeting next week to discuss the virus, which he says is not behaving the way it has in the past.
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