The Ministry of Health and Welfare on Friday officially renamed mpox in Mandarin to avoid stigma associated with its previous name in accordance with a WHO decision to phase out the term “monkeypox.”
From Feb. 1, the Mandarin name for the disease is to be mpox (M痘), the ministry said.
In early May 2022, mpox cases in countries where the disease is not endemic began to increase, and on Nov. 28 that year, the WHO announced that it would use the term mpox to avoid “racist and stigmatizing language” associated with monkeypox.
Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times
The global health body said it would use mpox as a synonym for monkeypox immediately, while both terms would be used simultaneously for a year until monkeypox is phased out.
Although the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) adopted the new English name mpox when referring to the disease, the Mandarin name monkeypox (猴痘) remained.
CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) yesterday said the centers passed a resolution to rename the disease at an mpox prevention and response meeting on Sept. 22 last year.
The resolution was published with a comment period from Nov. 3 last year to Jan. 2, Lo said.
As the ministry received no public comments opposing the proposal, it officially adopted the change on Friday, he said.
The change would not affect reporting rules or time limits for reporting the category 2 notifiable communicable disease, as the name in guidelines is being modified, he added.
Since mpox was classified as a category 2 notifiable communicable disease on June 23, 2022, 359 cases — 340 local and 19 imported cases — have been reported.
No mpox cases have been reported in Taiwan for nine weeks, since Nov. 13 last year, Lo said.
As WHO guidelines state that the disease can only be considered eliminated after three months of no new local cases under adequate surveillance, the CDC would need to monitor the disease until the middle of next month to confirm its elimination, he said.
As of Monday, 73,275 people had been vaccinated against mpox, including 45,606 people who are fully vaccinated with two doses, he said, adding that the CDC has about 25,000 doses in reserve, and those who only received one dose are encouraged to get the second dose for better protection.
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