Poxy McPoxface? TRUMP-22? WHO dismisses ‘ridiculous’ name submissions for monkeypox

Often disease names are chosen behind closed doors by a technical committee, but the WHO has this time decided to open up the process to the public.

Poxy McPoxface, TRUMP-22 or Mpox: these are some of the ideas sent in by the public to the World Health Organization as it seeks a new name for monkeypox.

Often disease names are chosen behind closed doors by a technical committee, but the WHO has this time decided to open up the process to the public. After a slow start, dozens of submissions have now been made from a range of contributors including academics, doctors, and a gay community activist.

They range from the technical (OPOXID-22, submitted by Harvard Medical School emergency physician Jeremy Faust) to the farcical (Poxy McPoxface, submitted by Andrew Yi in an allusion to Boaty McBoatface — almost the name of a British polar research vessel after a public vote on the choice).

Pressure is growing for a new name for the disease, in part because critics say it is misleading, since monkeys are not the original animal host. A group of leading scientists wrote a position paper in June calling for a name that was “neutral, non-discriminatory and non-stigmatizing” amid fears the name can be used in a racist way.

Until this year, monkeypox has mainly spread only in a group of countries in west and central Africa.

“It’s very important we find a new name for monkeypox because this is best practice not to create any offense to an ethical group, a region, a country, an animal etc,” WHO spokesperson Fadela Chaib said on Tuesday.

“The WHO is very concerned by this issue and we want to find a name that is not stigmatizing,” she added without giving a timeline.

One of the more popular submissions so far is Mpox, submitted by Samuel Miriello, director of a men’s health organization RÉZO which is already using the name in its outreach campaigns in Montreal, Canada.