4 ms·
Naming a virus after a disease is rather more monstrous than naming a disease after a virus, but nonetheless the virus is exclusively responsible for the causin
by escape_goat 7y ago
Naming a virus after a disease is rather more monstrous than naming a disease after a virus, but nonetheless the virus is exclusively responsible for the causing and the spreading of the disease. In this particular epidemic, the risk of asymptomatic transmission makes the distinction more salient than it usually is.
- kgwgk 7y agoDo you have examples of diseases named after a virus? I cannot think if any. (Edit: I found Ebola virus disease, Maburg virus disease and Nipah virus disease.)
- escape_goat 7y agoSorry not to catch this question. COVID-19, "Coronavirus disease 2019," is a disease named after a virus. The virus itself is now named "severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2," or SARS-CoV-2, and hence is a virus named after a disease.
- rfoo 7y agoAlso MERS.
- kgwgk 7y agoMiddle East respiratory syndrome is the disease. The virus is named after the disease: Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (MERS-CoV).