The head of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene asked the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday to rename monkeypox to prevent the “potentially devastating and stigmatizing effects” on those infected with the virus who might then avoid seeking medical care.
“Unfortunately, once again, New York City (NYC) finds itself at the epicenter of a contagious disease that is affecting the fabric of our communities,” Commissioner Ashwin Vasan wrote in a letter to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “We remain concerned about the rapidly increasing transmission rate of this virus and limited access to testing resources and vaccine supply.”
“Further, we have a growing concern for the potentially devastating and stigmatizing effects that the messaging around the ‘monkeypox’ virus can have on these already vulnerable communities,” Vasan continued. “Therefore, I write to urge you to act immediately on renaming the ‘monkeypox’ virus as the WHO stated they would do during a June 14th press briefing, over 5 weeks ago.”
“NYC joins many public health experts and community leaders who have expressed their serious concern about continuing to exclusively use the term ‘monkeypox’ given the stigma it may engender, and the painful and racist history within which terminology like this is rooted for communities of color,” Vasan added. “‘Monkeypox’ is a misnomer, as the virus does not originate in monkeys and was only classified as such due to an infection seen in research primates. And we know alternative terminology is possible and entities are starting to use terms such as ‘hMPXV’ and ‘MPV.’ We need leadership from the WHO to ensure consistency in naming and to reduce confusion to the public.”
It should be noted that it is unknown whether the monkeypox originated in monkeys, but the name comes from its discovery in laboratory monkeys in 1958.
Vasan then pointed to the negative effects from misinformation during the beginning of the HIV epidemic and the increase in hate crimes on Asian Americans after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic which he said was driven by those who noted that COVID-19 originated in China.
“Continuing to use the term ‘monkeypox’ to describe the current outbreak may reignite these traumatic feelings of racism and stigma — particularly for Black people and other people of color, as well as members of the LGBTQIA+ communities, and it is possible that they may avoid engaging in vital health care services because of it,” Vasan said.
