Glob­al health of­fi­cials are search­ing for a new name for mon­key­pox as sci­en­tists warn against stig­ma­tiz­ing the virus

As re­ports of new cas­es of mon­key­pox con­tin­ue to pop up around the globe, of­fi­cials at the WHO are scram­bling to come up with a new name for the virus that has been rat­tling gov­ern­ments around the world af­ter ex­perts in the field warned against ty­ing the virus to Africa in a way they called “dis­crim­i­na­to­ry and stig­ma­tiz­ing.”

Ac­cord­ing to WHO di­rec­tor-gen­er­al Tedros Ad­hanom Ghe­breye­sus, the or­ga­ni­za­tion is “work­ing with part­ners and ex­perts from around the world on chang­ing the name of the mon­key­pox virus, its clades (or branch­es) and the dis­ease it caus­es.”

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