Mpox

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A viral infection related to smallpox that causes fever, rash and fluid-filled skin lesions and can spread between people and animals
2. An infectious illness caused by a virus from the same family as smallpox, producing a painful rash and blisters on the skin
3. A zoonotic viral disease resembling smallpox, marked by fever, swollen lymph nodes and pustular lesions across the body

Etymology: The name is a clipping of "monkeypox," the older name for the disease, shortened to "mpox" in November 2022. The change was made because "monkeypox" had drawn racist and stigmatizing interpretations, and the new name was meant to remove that association. Wikipedia's nomenclature notes give the same account. The renaming was coined by RÉZO, a Montreal-based organization, working with other Canadian groups. It ran alongside an effort to change the French name of the disease, so the two languages were addressed together. The World Health Organization adopted the new name in late 2022, and news coverage of the time reported it as a response to stigma against people in Africa, where the disease had long been endemic.

Synonyms: monkeypox