Monkeypox virus has two distinct genetic clades: the central African (Congo Basin) clade and the west African clade. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Congo Basin clade usually causes more severe diseases and is thought to be more transmissible than the other clade. The geographical division is currently used in Cameroon, where the two clades are present.
The Associated Press reported that the UN health agency is planning to hold an open forum after some critics raised concerns about the name of the clades of monkeypox that could be "derogatory or have some racist connotations." The public forum that the UN health agency will soon open will pave the way for the public to suggest new names for monkeypox.
Renaming the Two Clades of Monkeypox
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the monkeypox virus was discovered in 1958 after two mysterious disease outbreaks occurred in colonies of research monkeys in Denmark.
Scientists named it monkeypox despite the source being unknown until today. Some say that African rodents and non-human primates might harbor the virus that is part of the same family of the virus that causes smallpox.
The first human monkeypox case was in 1970 and before the 2022 disease outbreak, infections were mostly reported in central and western African countries. Today, most cases were linked to overseas travels to countries where the virus is endemic.
On Friday, WHO announced that they are renaming the two clades of monkeypox using Roman numerals instead of their geographical names. The Congo Basin clade will be known as Clade I, while the west African clade will be known as Clade II.
AP reported that the decision came after a meeting of scientists regarding the current practices of naming diseases to avoid offending any culture, society, nation, region, and professional or ethnic group. It aims to minimize any negative impact on animal welfare, tourism, trade, and travel.
Several other known diseases are named after the geographic areas where they were first recorded, such as Japanese encephalitis, Marburg virus, Spanish influenza, and Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). Although, WHO has not publicly announced renaming any of these names.
In this Centers for Disease Control and Prevention handout graphic, symptoms of one of the first known cases of the monkeypox virus are shown on a patient?s hand May 27, 2003.
World Health Organization Renaming the Two Clades of Monkeypox
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the monkeypox virus was discovered in 1958 after two mysterious disease outbreaks occurred in colonies of research monkeys in Denmark.
Scientists named it monkeypox despite the source being unknown until today. Some say that African rodents and non-human primates might harbor the virus that is part of the same family of the virus that causes smallpox.
The first human monkeypox case was in 1970 and prior to the 2022 disease outbreak, infections were mostly reported in central and western African countries. Today, most cases were linked to overseas travels to countries where the virus is endemic.
On Friday, August 12, WHO announced that they are renaming the two clades of monkeypox using Roman numerals instead of their geographical names. The Congo Basin clade will be known as Clade I, while the west African clade will be known as Clade II.
AP reported that the decision came after a meeting of scientists regarding the current practices of naming diseases to avoid causing offense to any culture, society, nation, region, and professional or ethnic group. More so, it is aimed to minimize any negative impact on animal welfare, tourism, trade, and travel.
Several other known diseases are named after the geographic areas where they are first recorded, such as Japanese encephalitis, Marburg virus, Spanish influenza, and Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). Although, WHO has not publicly announced renaming any of these names.
Evolution and Diversity of Monkeypox Virus
In June, WebMD reported that a group of scientists proposed a new classification for the clades of monkeypox in the order of detection: 1 for Congo Basin, 2 for west Africa, and 3 for the localized spillover events this year in Europe. They noted that more genome sequencing could uncover other clades of the virus.
Moreover, they found that the most recent clade is notably diverse among other genomes. Adopting the new naming convention for coronavirus pandemic could denote the human monkeypox clades as "A.1, A.2, and A.1.1."
A study titled "Phylogenomic Analysis of the Monkeypox Virus (MPXV) 2022 Outbreak: Emergence of a Novel Viral Lineage?" published in the journal Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease, assessed the evolution and diversity of monkeypox genomes using phylogenomic analysis.
They found that all genomes in the 2022 monkeypox disease outbreak among humans have a remarkable monophyletic lineage compared to other lineages in the past human monkeypox disease outbreaks. News Medical Life Sciences reported an increased mutational signature, indicating an accelerating evolutionary path.
The study concluded that the genomic variations could be responsible for the successful high transmissibility rate of the 2022 monkeypox disease outbreak.
RELATED ARTICLE: 1 in 5 Americans Concerned About Contracting Monkeypox Virus: Conspiracy Theories Spreading Faster Than the Disease
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