Per editor: Zheng Yuhang
China News Network reported on August 18 that after the British medical journal "The Lancet" first reported the first case of human-to-dog monkeypox transmission, Lewis, the technical leader of the world health organization (WHO) monkeypox problem, said on the 17th local time that this is the first case of human-to-animal reported.
In addition, according to Xinhua News Agency, the public is contributing inspiration to the WHO rebranding the monkeypox virus, Mpox, OPOXID-22, Poxy McPoxface, these various phrases, perhaps a new name will become the monkeypox virus.
According to WHO data, nearly 7,500 new cases of monkeypox were reported worldwide last week, an increase of 20% compared to the previous week. Globally, 35 000 cases of monkeypox have been reported, including 12 deaths. Almost all of the nearly 7,500 new cases added last week came from Europe and the Americas.
Image source: Visual China VCG41N1209160062
Monkeypox suspected of being "human-to-dog" THE WHO called on monkeypox patients to avoid exposing animals to the virus
According to Xinhua News Agency, a pet dog in France is suspected of contracting the monkeypox virus from its owner. The US media quoted a medical paper on the 15th as saying that this is the first time that the medical community has found evidence that the monkeypox virus can be "transmitted from man to dog".
The paper, published in the British medical journal The Lancet, mentions that 12 days after two men in France developed symptoms of monkeypox virus infection, the pet dog they lived with developed pustules, skin damage and other symptoms on the abdomen, and then tested positive for monkeypox virus.
The dog is an Italian Greyhound, 4 years old, male, who was not sick until he contracted monkeypox. After two men developed symptoms, they slept in the same bed as their dogs. But according to the two, they have always kept the dog at a distance from other people or pets.
Image source: Visual China VCG41N1395078216 (graphics and text are irrelevant)
According to CBS, wild animals such as rodents and primates may carry monkeypox virus in monkeypox-endemic areas, but no health agencies have previously reported cases of monkeypox infection in domestic pets such as dogs and cats.
Dna testing by the researchers determined that both the man and the dog were infected with the monkeypox virus.
According to another report by China News Network, the WHO also called on monkeypox patients to avoid exposing animals to the virus. Some experts pointed out that there is no evidence that dogs will transmit the disease to other dogs or people.
Avoid "stigmatization", monkeypox to change the name?
According to Xinhua News Agency, Reuters reported on the 16th that the WHO has the right to assign new names to existing diseases included in the International Classification of Diseases. The names of these diseases are usually chosen behind closed doors by a technical committee, but WHO this time decided to publicly solicit new names for the monkeypox virus.
The WHO has received dozens of naming suggestions from diverse groups, including scholars and doctors. The new name, Mmox, submitted by Samuel Mirello, director of a Canadian men's health organization, is one of the most popular proposals at the moment; Jeremy Foster, an emergency physician at Harvard Medical School, submitted a "technology stream" called OPOXID-22.
The WHO is under pressure to rename the monkeypox virus. Critics argue that the name monkeypox is misleading because monkeys are not the main reservoir of the virus. In June, some prominent scientists jointly called for a name change for monkeypox, demanding that the new name be "neutral, non-discriminatory and non-stigmatized".
Image source: Visual China VCG211119145422
WHO spokesman Fadra Shayib said on the 16th that "it is very important to find a new name for monkeypox" to ensure that it does not offend any specific population, animal, country, region, etc.
Shayib did not give a timeline for the monkeypox virus name change, saying that he would select a name from the public naming proposal "based on scientific accuracy, acceptance, pronunciation, and whether it can be used in different languages", hoping to find "a name that will not stigmatize (any group)".
Monkeypox was previously endemic mainly in West and Central Africa, and since May this year, many countries and regions outside Africa have reported monkeypox cases. ON 23 July, WHO declared that this year's monkeypox outbreak in many countries constitutes a "Public Health Emergency of International Concern".
Scientists first discovered the virus in a group of monkeys used for research in 1958, when the monkeys developed a "pox-like" infectious disease, hence the name monkeypox virus. WHO stressed on the 9th that the current monkeypox epidemic is not related to monkeys, and monkeys should be stopped hurting or even killed.
Daily Economic News Synthesis China News Network, Xinhua News Agency
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