By now, you most likely know the illness on the heart of the worldwide pandemic is known as COVID-19. However maybe you don’t know why.
The reply is that COVID-19 a shorthand for “coronavirus illness 2019.”
The World Well being Group made it official again in February, with the identify written in all capital letters.
On the identical time, the WHO introduced an official identify for the novel coronavirus that causes the illness: SARS-CoV-2. It displays the truth that the brand new virus is a genetic relative of SARS-CoV, the virus liable for the 2003 outbreak of extreme acute respiratory syndrome. That illness is healthier identified by the acronym SARS.
SARS and SARS-CoV match, however COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2 don’t. That will strike you as odd, however there’s loads of precedent for mismatched names. As an example, the human immunodeficiency virus, a.ok.a. HIV, is what causes the illness generally known as acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS.
It might appear apparent that a illness ought to have a reputation, however the WHO spelled out the explanation anyway: “Ailments are named to allow dialogue on illness prevention, unfold, transmissibility, severity and therapy.”
The worldwide well being company labored with the World Group for Animal Well being and the Meals and Agriculture Group of the United Nations to provide you with recommendation for selecting a reputation. Amongst their ideas:
• Names must be “quick” and “simple to pronounce.”
• They will mix generic descriptive phrases (akin to “respiratory illness”) with extra particular ones (akin to “extreme” or “progressive”).
• Phrases which are “plain” are higher than phrases which are “extremely technical.”
• If the pathogen that causes the illness is thought, it must be included within the illness identify.
There’s additionally recommendation on phrases that shouldn't be a part of a illness identify, together with:
• Phrases that “incite undue worry” (amongst them “dying” and “deadly”)
• International locations or geographical areas
• Animals or meals gadgets
• References to particular jobs or industries
• The identify of a selected particular person
Clearly, this recommendation isn't all the time adopted. Think about Spanish flu, Center East respiratory syndrome (a.ok.a. MERS), hen flu, legionnaires’ illness and Chagas illness.
The ultimate phrase on a brand new identify rests with the keepers of the Worldwide Classification of Ailments, a complete catalog of well being problems that's maintained by the WHO.
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