A recent toot by @kakape made me think of an observation I once had, which I will try to unravel over the next few toots.
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RE: https://mas.to/@kakape/116601753135662178
A recent toot by @kakape made me think of an observation I once had, which I will try to unravel over the next few toots.
For the longest time, (relatively) newly discovered viruses and the diseases they caused were often named after geographic features of note near the first observed cases. So, you had the Ebola River, the Hantan River (but now referred to as Hantangang in tourist brochures, since it's now a popular whitewater rafting spot in Korea), the Rift Valley in Kenya, and the city of JunΓn in Argentina all lending their names to viral scourges of varying severity, to use a few popular examples. At an extreme, you have the country of Sudan lending its name to a particularly virulent strain of the Ebola virus.
(1/n)
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T #medicine shared this topic
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RE: https://mas.to/@kakape/116601753135662178
A recent toot by @kakape made me think of an observation I once had, which I will try to unravel over the next few toots.
For the longest time, (relatively) newly discovered viruses and the diseases they caused were often named after geographic features of note near the first observed cases. So, you had the Ebola River, the Hantan River (but now referred to as Hantangang in tourist brochures, since it's now a popular whitewater rafting spot in Korea), the Rift Valley in Kenya, and the city of JunΓn in Argentina all lending their names to viral scourges of varying severity, to use a few popular examples. At an extreme, you have the country of Sudan lending its name to a particularly virulent strain of the Ebola virus.
(1/n)
Of course, these toponyms are not often well-received by people who live on or near these places. For instance, the hantavirus that caused the first observed cases of the associated pulmonary syndrome was ultimately called the "Sin Nombre Virus", because all the other proposed toponymous names were strenuously objected to by the Native Americans in the affected areas. More recently, although the now endemic coronavirus was initially termed the "Wuhan coronavirus", we instead now talk about "SARS-CoV-2" and "COVID-19". In fact the WHO currently discourages the use of eponymous and toponymous names for diseases (cf. https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/163636/WHO_HSE_FOS_15.1_eng.pdf and https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8223546/)
(2/n)
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Of course, these toponyms are not often well-received by people who live on or near these places. For instance, the hantavirus that caused the first observed cases of the associated pulmonary syndrome was ultimately called the "Sin Nombre Virus", because all the other proposed toponymous names were strenuously objected to by the Native Americans in the affected areas. More recently, although the now endemic coronavirus was initially termed the "Wuhan coronavirus", we instead now talk about "SARS-CoV-2" and "COVID-19". In fact the WHO currently discourages the use of eponymous and toponymous names for diseases (cf. https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/163636/WHO_HSE_FOS_15.1_eng.pdf and https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8223546/)
(2/n)
It should also be mentioned that we can and do rename diseases, if it is deemed appropriate, and there's sufficient (political?) will. For instance, we now speak of "mpox" instead of "monkey pox" (cf. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lana.2022.100424). To slightly veer off the realm of infectious diseases, the disease formerly referred to as PCOS has been renamed PMOS, to better reflect the condition of the women affected by it (cf. https://www.endocrine.org/news-and-advocacy/news-room/2026/pcos-name-change). The transition period in which the old and new names are mentioned can and does get confusing, but that is expected with these sorts of transitions.
(3/n)
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It should also be mentioned that we can and do rename diseases, if it is deemed appropriate, and there's sufficient (political?) will. For instance, we now speak of "mpox" instead of "monkey pox" (cf. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lana.2022.100424). To slightly veer off the realm of infectious diseases, the disease formerly referred to as PCOS has been renamed PMOS, to better reflect the condition of the women affected by it (cf. https://www.endocrine.org/news-and-advocacy/news-room/2026/pcos-name-change). The transition period in which the old and new names are mentioned can and does get confusing, but that is expected with these sorts of transitions.
(3/n)
BUT, look at "Ebola" and "Bundibugyo". These are places in Africa, that are presumably affected by negative press related to the viruses they lent their names to. (I already mentioned the "Sudan" example in an earlier toot.) We could rename, if there only were a sufficient push, BUT WE DO NOT. Is no one advocating for these places? We quickly put the kibosh on "Wuhan coronavirus", but still we use African toponyms for these viruses. One can make similar observations regarding other viruses named after other places in Africa, South America, and the rest of the so-called "Global South".
Eventually, a respondent to this thread might bring up issues of race and class divisions, but I will stop myself here for the time being.
(4/n, n=4)
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