The World Health Organization says it's holding an open forum to rename the disease monkeypox, after some critics raised concerns the name could be derogatory or have racist connotations.

世界衛(wèi)生組織表示，正舉行一個公開論壇來重新命名猴痘。此前一些批評人士擔心該名稱可能帶有貶義或種族主義色彩。

derogatory adj. 貶義的;不敬的

據(jù)路透社16日報道，通常情況下，疾病名稱是由技術(shù)委員會閉門選擇的，但這一次世界衛(wèi)生組織決定公開征集猴痘病毒新名稱。世界衛(wèi)生組織已經(jīng)收到學者、醫(yī)生等不同群體提出的數(shù)十個命名建議。

哈佛大學醫(yī)學院急診醫(yī)師杰里米·福斯特提交了一個“技術(shù)流”名稱OPOXID-22;加拿大一個男性健康組織主管塞繆爾·米列洛提交的新名稱Mpox是目前最受歡迎的建議之一。

"When you remove the monkey imagery, people seem to understand more quickly that there's an emergency that needs to be taken seriously," he told Reuters.

米列洛指出，“消除猴子的形象，似乎能使人們更快認識到這是需要認真對待的緊急情況。”

另一個名字Trump-22似乎是針對美國前總統(tǒng)唐納德·特朗普的，因為他曾使用有爭議的術(shù)語“中國病毒”來指代新型冠狀病毒。盡管該命名的作者表示，它代表了“2022年未知來源的神秘有毒皮疹”。

Another proposal, Trump-22, appeared to be refer to former US president Donald Trump who used the controversial term “Chinese virus” for the new coronavirus, although its author said it stood for “Toxic Rash of Unrecognised Mysterious Provenance of 2022”.

批評人士認為，猴痘之名有誤導性，因為猴子并非這種病毒的主要宿主。一些知名科學家6月聯(lián)名呼吁為猴痘更名，要求新名稱“中立、不歧視、不污名化”。

Pressure is growing for a new name for the disease, in part because critics say it is misleading, since monkeys are not the original animal host.

A group of leading scientists wrote a position paper in June calling for a name that was "neutral, non-discriminatory and non-stigmatizing" amid fears the name can be used in a racist way.

stigmatize v. 使受恥辱;侮辱;

世衛(wèi)組織發(fā)言人法德拉·沙伊卜16日說，“為猴痘找到一個新名稱非常重要”，要確保它不冒犯任何特定人群、動物、國家、地區(qū)等。

猴痘先前主要在西非和中非地區(qū)流行。今年5月以來，不少非洲以外國家和地區(qū)相繼報告猴痘病例。世衛(wèi)組織7月23日宣布，今年多國猴痘疫情構(gòu)成“國際關注的突發(fā)公共衛(wèi)生事件”。

The WHO declared the current outbreak a public health emergency last month having reported more than 32,000 cases from over 80 countries.