03:11 PM
Thursday 13 February 2020
–
Books – Ahmed Jumaa:
The World Health Organization announced, two days ago, the name of the “emerging corona” virus, and gave it a new name, “Covid-19”.
The deadly virus appeared in China in late December, and has signed 1,367 deaths so far in China, along with two cases in the Philippines and Hong Kong, and more than 60,000 infections in 28 countries, where the vast majority of cases are China.
Corona is “a viral family with different patterns, and up to this point the newly created corona is the seventh type that has been discovered from the family,” said Dr. Dalia Samhouri, director of the Emergency Program and International Health Regulations at the WHO regional office, to Masrawy.
But what prompted the WHO to change the name of the deadly virus?
Dr. Amjad Al-Khouli, an epidemiological consultant at the WHO Regional Office, tells Masrawy: “When the outbreak of the new Corona virus spread, all we knew about him was that it belonged to the Corona Virus family, and for speedy handling we were referred to initially as the novel coronavirus or nCov. -2019 “.
Al-Khouli explained that, according to the agreed guidelines between the World Health Organization, the World Organization for Animal Health and the Food and Agriculture Organization, we had to find a name that does not refer to a geographical location, an animal, an individual or a group of people, and that it is also easy to pronounce and of course refers to the family that It belongs to the virus and is related to the disease that causes it.
Besides, the presence of a special name for the new virus is important to prevent the use of other names for the new virus or disease that may be inaccurate or cause stigma, according to an epidemiological consultant.
And amongst the scientists of the World Health Organization decided to use the new name (COVID-19), which is made up of the beginnings of several words in English with the year the virus appeared (COrona VIrus Disease 2019).
In general, the choice of the name of new diseases or viruses is subject to a number of criteria that the World Health Organization takes into account, including: that it denotes the family to which the virus belongs, and does not carry any sign of stigmatization or discrimination of a particular country, specific people, animal, or range Geographical. In some cases, the year of the disease’s appearance or the discovery of the virus is indicated, in order to distinguish it from other outbreaks or similar viruses.
However, the Director of the Emergency Program at the Regional Office for Global Health says that the appearance of Type 7 Corona “means that there are patterns that have not yet been discovered.”
“Not a trivial matter”
The choice of names for new epidemics in the world is subject to procedures that may appear strict and complex for the World Health Organization. In 2015, the organization warned against the random designation of diseases.
She said naming diseases such as swine flu or Rift Valley fever may lead to stigmatization of societies, but not to the economy, as well as harm the economy.
The BBC spoke of “strange stories” of previous virus outbreaks, when the H1N1 virus was nicknamed “Swine Flu” in 2009, and that label in Egypt killed its pigs, even though the virus was spread by Individuals, not pigs.
The Egyptian Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization returned to asserting – late last year – that there is no such thing as swine flu, and that this type of common seasonal flu does not go beyond being a common cold.
And the Assistant Director-General for Health Safety, Global Health, Keiji Fukuda, has spoken of naming the new viruses by saying that “it may seem trivial to some, but the names of diseases really mean a lot to those who are directly involved.”
He added in a statement in 2015: “We have witnessed that the names of some diseases provoked adverse reactions against members of a particular religion or ethnic group. They also created unjustified barriers in the areas of travel and trade and also led to the execution of animals used for feeding without an urgent need to do so.”
In conclusion, the final body for naming new diseases in humans is the International Organization for Disease Classification of the World Health Organization.
– .
