New York City’s Health Department announced in a posted online statement the agency will now refer to monkeypox as MPV.
“The previous name is an inaccurate and stigmatizing label for a virus that is primarily affecting a community that has already suffered a long history of bigotry,” said a spokesperson for Dr. Ashwin Vasan, NYC’s health commissioner. “Stigma is a shadow affliction that can follow viruses and drive people away from care, even when the illness itself is treatable.”
The Daily Wire further reported:
NYC Health encouraged “anyone of any sexual orientation or gender identity who is at risk” to get both doses of the monkeypox vaccine at any city-run vaccination site.
While monkeypox is not spread exclusively through sex, the disease is infecting gay men at a far higher rate than any other demographic. The latest data from New York City shows that those who identify as LGBTQ currently make up 2,384 (64%) of the city’s 3,703 monkeypox cases, and men make up 3,466 (94%) of the cases.
According to the CDC, monkeypox can spread through skin to skin contact that often happens through hugging, kissing, extended face-to-face contact, and sexual intercourse. Symptoms include fever, headache, cough, sore throat, and nasal congestion. The disease can also cause painful rashes and blisters.
The NYC Health Department website still references monkeypox, even as it transitions to its new acronym MPV. A Friday post to Twitter also uses both the name and NYC-approved acronym for monkeypox.
Most Monkeypox symptoms only last between two and four weeks, according to the World Health Organization, which added the fatality rate for the disease is between three and six percent.
City health officials have not announced similar name changes for related Orthopoxvirus genera such as smallpox and cowpow.
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