Author: Stacy Christiansen

New Mpox Name for Monkeypox Disease

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Stacy L. Christiansen, MA, Managing Editor, JAMA

The recent outbreak of monkeypox disease (caused by the monkeypox virus), like COVID-19 and other pathogens before it, raised concern about disease names, particularly those that could negatively affect particular nations, populations, or animals.

The naming of diseases (and in this case, renaming) falls to the World Health Organization (WHO). After reports from individuals and countries raised concerns about the term “monkeypox” being racist or stigmatizing, the WHO met with concerned parties and invited public comment to rename the disease.1

The result is “mpox.”

The AMA Manual of Style will add the term “mpox” to the viruses section in the Nomenclature chapter (14.14) as well as information about the renamed clade I and clade II (formerly Central African and West African, respectively).2

We recommend dual reporting, such as mpox (monkeypox), at first mention to ease adoption of the new terminology. Other organizations, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention3 and AP Stylebook,4 have also announced their adoption of the updated terminology.

The monkeypox virus name has not yet been changed. The International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses is responsible for that terminology,1 and when new nomenclature is announced we will update the Manual accordingly.

References

  1. World Health Organization. WHO recommends new name for monkeypox disease. Accessed December 1, 2022. https://www.who.int/news/item/28-11-2022-who-recommends-new-name-for-monkeypox-disease
  2. World Helath Organization. Monkeypox: experts give virus variants new names. Accessed December 1, 2022. https://www.who.int/news/item/12-08-2022-monkeypox–experts-give-virus-variants-new-names
  3. US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Monkeypox. Updated November 30, 2022. Accessed December 1, 2022. https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/index.html
  4. The Associated Press. mpox. AP Stylebook. November 30, 2022. Accessed December 1, 2022. https://www.apstylebook.com/ap_stylebook/mpox

A Short Update on Long COVID

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Stacy L. Christiansen, MA, Managing Editor, JAMA

After infection with SARS-CoV-2, some people develop long-term effects. This condition has been termed post-COVID conditions (PCCs), post-COVID syndrome, postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC), and in common parlance, long COVID.1

Which term to use will depend on the content and the intended audience. The ICD-10 code principally uses the term post COVID-19 condition.2,3

In the JAMA Network journals, we prefer post–COVID-19 condition (PCC), with allowance of long COVID for colloquial use (eg, in narrative or patient-focused content). Note that “long” is lowercase.

Avoid jargon terms, such as “long haulers,” in clinical or scientific content. The online style manual will be updated to include this terminology in chapter 11.1, Correct and Preferred Usage of Common Words and Phrases.

References

  1. US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Long COVID or post-COVID conditions. Updated September 1, 2022. Accessed October 28, 2022. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/long-term-effects/index.html
  2. US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Post COVID-19 condition: ICD-10-CM official guidelines for coding and reporting. Updated April 1, 2022. Accessed October 14, 2022. https://www.cms.gov/files/document/fy-2022-icd-10-cm-coding-guidelines-updated-02012022.pdf
  3. World Health Organization. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): post COVID-19 condition. Accessed October 14, 2022. https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/coronavirus-disease-(covid-19)-post-covid-19-condition