(MENAFN- Trend News Agency)
The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced new names for
variants of the monkeypox virus that are currently in circulation.
This is to avoid causing any cultural or social offense, the WHO
explained in a statement on Friday, Trend reports citing Xinhua .
A group of global experts convened by the WHO decided on the new
names.
Experts will now refer to the former Congo Basin clade (group of
variants) in Central Africa as Clade I, and the former West African
clade as Clade II. The latter consists of two sub-clades, Clade IIa
and Clade IIb, of which Clade IIb was the main group of variants
circulating during the 2022 outbreak.
WHO said the new names for the clades should be used
immediately.
Newly-identified viruses, related diseases, and virus variants
should be given names that avoid causing offense to any cultural,
social, national, regional, professional, or ethnic groups, and
which minimize any negative impact on trade, travel, tourism or
animal welfare, WHO added.
The monkeypox virus was named when it was first discovered in
1958. Major variants were identified by the geographic regions
where they were known to circulate.
WHO officially declared late last month that the current
multi-country monkeypox outbreak had turned into a public health
emergency of international concern.
According to WHO's situation report on the monkeypox outbreak
published on Wednesday, there have now been 27,814
laboratory-confirmed cases, and 11 deaths from the disease in 89
countries and regions worldwide, with Europe and the Americas being
hit the hardest.
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