A group of global experts convened by WHO has agreed on new names for variants of the monkeypox virus, as part of ongoing efforts to align the names of the disease, virus and variants of monkeypox, or clades, with current best practices. The experts agreed to name the clades using Roman numerals.
Monkeypox virus was named after its first discovery in 1958, before current best practices for naming diseases and viruses were adopted. Similarly for the name of the disease it causes. The main variants were identified by the geographic regions where they were known to circulate.
Current best practice is that newly identified viruses, related diseases, and virus variants should be given names in order to avoid offending any cultural, social, national, regional, professional, or ethnic group, and to minimize any negative impact on the environment. trade. , travel, tourism or animal welfare.
Illness: Assigning new names to existing diseases is the responsibility of the WHO under the International Classification of Diseases and the WHO Family of International Health-Related Classifications (WHO-FIC). The WHO is conducting an open consultation for a new disease name for monkeypox. Anyone wishing to propose new names can do so here (see ICD-11, Adding Proposals).
Virus: The naming of virus species is the responsibility of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV), which has an ongoing process for the naming of the monkeypox virus.
variants/clades: The denomination of variants of existing pathogens is usually the result of a debate between scientists. To speed up agreement in the context of the current outbreak, the WHO convened an ad hoc meeting on August 8 to allow virologists and public health experts to reach a consensus on the new terminology.
Experts in smallpox virology, evolutionary biology, and representatives of research institutes from around the world reviewed the phylogeny and nomenclature of known and new variants or clades of monkeypox virus. They discussed the characteristics and evolution of monkeypox virus variants, their apparent phylogenetic and clinical differences, and potential consequences for public health and future virological and evolutionary research.
The group reached a consensus on the new nomenclature for virus clades that is in line with best practice. They agreed on how virus clades should be recorded and classified at genome sequence repository sites.
A consensus was reached to now refer to the ancient Congo Basin (Central African) clade as Clade one (I) and the ancient West African clade as Clade two (II). Furthermore, it was agreed that Clade II consists of two subclades.
The proper naming structure will be represented by a Roman numeral for the clade and a lowercase alphanumeric character for the subclades. Therefore, the new naming convention comprises Clade I, Clade IIa, and Clade IIb, with the latter primarily referring to the group of variants circulating heavily in the 2022 global outbreak. Lineage naming will be as proposed by scientists as the outbreak evolves. Experts will be reconvened as necessary.
The new names for the clades should be effective immediately while work on disease and virus names continues.
Source: www.who.int