Monkeypox case detected in the north

A case of monkeypox has been diagnosed in the north, the Turkish Cypriot ‘health ministry’ announced on Sunday.

The person who has fallen ill is being treated in isolation at a hospital in the north and been given the required medication, it said.

At the same time efforts are being made to find those who came in contact with the infected patient.

The WHO recently changed the name of monkeypox to ‘mpox’ “in the wake of reports of racist and stigmatising language surrounding the name of the disease”.

The monkeypox name was given in 1970, some 12 years after the virus that causes the disease was discovered in captive monkeys.

This was before WHO first published best practices on naming diseases in 2015.

These guidelines recommend that new disease names should aim to minimise unnecessary negative impacts on trade, travel, tourism or animal welfare, according to the UN.

They should also avoid offending any cultural, social, national, regional, professional or ethnic groups.

Both mpox and monkeypox will be used simultaneously for a year before the monkeypox name is phased out