WHO releases new names for monkeypox virus groups

The WHO (World Health Organization) released last Friday (12) new names for groups and subgroups of the monkeypox virus. The initiative aims to minimize the negative impacts that the designation of the disease and the virus can cause.

Discussion about the name of the virus and the disease – also called “monkeypox” in English – takes place inside and outside the organization. In mid-June, WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus publicly announced the desire to change the denominations.

A first change was changes to the names of groups and subgroups of the virus based on reviews by experts in virology and evolutionary biology.

There are currently two documented groups of the pathogen. They are endemic (when you have a stage of coexistence with the virus, with a stable number of cases and deaths) in two regions of Africa: in West Africa and in the central region of the continent. Until then, these localities were used to refer to two clades (or groups) of the virus.

Now, with the last Friday’s change, the West African group is now called Clade I and the one from the central region of the continent has been named Clade II. The change generates a pattern in which virus groups must be referred to with Roman numerals.

The changes are also applied to two subclaudos (or subgroups) of Claudo II. In this case, the experts defined that these subgroups are named with a lowercase alphanumeric letter after the Roman numeral: Clade IIa and Clade IIb.

name change

Changes in the names of monkeypox virus groups still do not apply to the naming of the pathogen – it is still called “monkeypox” in English.

The adoption of new names for diseases is part of the WHO umbrella of responsibilities. According to the organization, a consultation to propose new names for monkeypox is open. Anyone can propose a new nomenclature on this site.

For viruses, new designations are assigned by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV). The WHO says the commission has an open process to change the nomenclature of the monkeypox virus.

Sources linked to ICTV say there is a willingness to make changes, but many point out that a radical change, with the total abandonment of the term “monkeypox”, could compromise the scientific literature that has been produced on this virus for more than 60 years.

For Raquel Stucchi, an infectious disease specialist at Unicamp (University of Campinas), the new internet tools allow for changes without many problems. “The price of keeping the name ‘monkeypox’ is much higher than any problem with the scientific literature,” she said.

The term “monkeypox” was used in 1958 when the virus was first documented in primates taken from Africa to Denmark – hence the name monkeypox. But research already indicates that these animals are not the natural reservoirs of the pathogen.

In addition, the name can generate confusion when thinking that the main form of transmission of the disease in the current outbreak would occur directly from animals to humans, which could generate cases of attacks on animals.

Earlier this month, five monkeys were found dead and another three rescued with signs of intoxication. The episode took place in São José do Rio Preto, in the interior of São Paulo. It is suspected that the animals were attacked by the population due to cases of monkeypox.

However, the current spread does not happen mainly through interactions between animals and humans, but through direct contact with infected people.

The matter reverberated worldwide and also reached the WHO. Last week, epidemiologist Margaret Harris, spokeswoman for the entity, condemned violence against animals and reiterated her intention to find a better name for the disease.