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Monkeypox, A Official New name change
The World Health Organization has a potential permeant name change for Monkeypox. This is one of our more current outbreaks in America, kin to the Variola virus, which is the cause of smallpox, they are similar strands but monkeypox is less fatal.
According to the CDC, “People with mpox get a rash that may be located on or near the genitals (penis, testicles, labia, and vagina) or anus (butthole) and could be on other areas like the hands, feet, chest, face, or mouth.”
Additionally
- The rash will go through several stages, including scabs, before healing.
- The rash can initially look like pimples or blisters and may be painful or itchy.
Other symptoms of monkeypox can include:
- Fever.
- Headaches.
- Exhaustion.
- chills.
- Swollen Lymph nodes.
- Muscle soreness and back pain.
- respiratory problems like coughing, sore throat, nasal, congestion, etc.
The World Health Organization has made a new official name for our current outbreak, monkeypox, which has an official name change to Mpox after controversy about the prior name being racist and categorizing people who got the virus in a negative light.
Why is it called Monkeypox?
During mid-summer of 2022, a new outbreak started In the western hemisphere predominantly in the United States and Europe, This would cause concern from other countries because of the constant traffic and the virus easily able to spread to other hosts. In the year 1958 a lab in Denmark, scientists identified a virus in a captivated monkey, but it wasn’t called monkeypox until 1970.
Reason for offense
The reason that people find Mpox offensive is because in western society “Monkey“ is considered a racial slur used to dehumanize and insult Black people. It also seems that some western news stations caught some flack for showing people from Africa with monkeypox; even though predominately Caucasians have caught this virus. It also seems that at the beginning of the outbreak mostly homosexual males caught the virus.
By Kitrell Robinson
Sources:
The New York Times: Monkeypox has a new name: Mpox
CDC: Signs and Symptoms
Top and Featured Image Courtesy of NIAID‘s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License