Global experts give monkeypox variants new names

Health experts through the World Health Organization (WHO) have come up with new names for the monkeypoxstrains using Roman numerals, according to a release sent Friday.

A group of global virologists and public health experts met on Monday and decided to now use a Roman numeral for the clade or strain and a lower-case alphanumeric character for subclades or substrains.

The former Congo Basin (Central African) monkeypox clade will now be known as Clade one (I) and the former West African clade as Clade two (II). Additionally, it was agreed that the Clade II consists of two subclades, the WHO said.

Scientists have called for a change in how we talk about monkeypox and its strains to use less discriminatory terminology to describe infections popping up around the globe.

The scientistsbelieve changinghow we communicate about the disease willpromote more sharing of knowledge about outbreaks and could help minimize negative impacts.

WHO officials said the name changes better align withcurrent naming practices used today.

According to the WHO, the monkeypox virus was first discovered inlaboratory monkeys hence the name in a Copenhagen research facility in 1958.Human monkeypox was first identified12 years later.

The global health organization currently names new viruses with the aim of not offendingany cultural, social, national, regional, professional or ethnic groups, said a WHO release sent Friday.

WHO is also consulting for a new disease name for monkeypox.