13 ms·

Not quite. It is standard policy not to name virus after specific places, as a courtesy, regardless of where those places are.

egeozcan 7y ago
Totally, and also it is very important. In some Turkish-speaking forums I follow, some people already blame the "Chinese way of living" for such a disaster. This disassociation has been even too late, I'd say.
- ash 7y ago
  Covid-19 virus originated in Wuhan "wet market", where freshly-slaughtered wild meat is preferred. It's a perfect setting to facilitate virus movement from animal to animal and from animal to human. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/25/coronavirus-closures-reveal-vast-scale-of-chinas-secretive-wildlife-farm-industry https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/25/coronavi... And it happened before, with SARS in 2003: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndrome#Outbreak_in_South_China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndr...
  - egeozcan 7y ago
    Even if it is so, Chinese way of living is not just that market and people are just being racist. If there is a specific thing wrong with that environment (I'm not the one to tell), it needs to be dealt as a single case, not by talking down the way of living of billions.
TheKarateKid 7y ago
What about the West Nile Virus, Zika virus, Spanish flu, etc.?
- hellofunk 7y ago
  Ebola would be one exception, as it is a river. But Spanish flu was not so named (if that's even a formal name) because of anything Spanish in origin; it was named that way because Spain was the only country reporting on it due to suppression of journalists around the world, including in the U.S., due to WWI. People got all their news on the flu from Spain, so it came to be called the Spanish flu.
areyousure 7y ago
The internationally accepted naming convention for influenza viruses, accepted by the WHO and followed by the (US) CDC, literally includes geographic origin in the naming of influenza viruses: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/viruses/types.htm https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/viruses/types.htm https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2395936/pdf/bullwho00427-0070.pdf https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2395936/pdf/bul... The WHO's recommended name for the virus that involved in its previous announced pandemic is "A(H1N1)pdm09", which literally stands for "pandemic disease Mexico 2009": https://www.who.int/influenza/gisrs_laboratory/terminology_ah1n1pdm09/en/ https://www.who.int/influenza/gisrs_laboratory/terminology_a... The name of this virus with respect to the naming convention mentioned above is literally "A/California/7/2009(H1N1)pdm", which you'll note has two specific places in it, one abbreviated and one not.
- hellofunk 7y ago
  The world health organization changed its guidelines in 2015: https://www.who.int/topics/infectious_diseases/naming-new-diseases/en/ https://www.who.int/topics/infectious_diseases/naming-new-di... Of course older diseases would not likely have their names changed.
  - areyousure 7y ago
    The WHO itself posts recommendations for the composition of influenza vaccines: https://www.fludb.org/brc/vaccineRecommend.spg?decorator=influenza https://www.fludb.org/brc/vaccineRecommend.spg?decorator=inf... For the Northern Hemisphere this flu season they recommend strains like A/Brisbane/02/2018(H1N1), A/Kansas/14/2017(H3N2), B/Colorado/06/2017, and B/Phuket/3073/2013.
    - nl 7y ago
      Those are virus strain identifier names, not disease common names. IN that case the disease is called influenza. The WHO advice applies to the common usage: As these best practices only apply to disease names for common usage, they also do not affect the work of existing international authoritative bodies responsible for scientific taxonomy and nomenclature of microorganisms. https://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/notes/2015/naming-new-diseases/en/ https://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/notes/2015/naming-new-d...
areyousure 7y ago
Just in one single section of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norovirus#Classification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norovirus#Classification we find Norwalk virus (its original namesake), Southampton virus, Bristol virus, Lordsdale virus, Toronto virus, Mexico virus, Hawaii virus, Snow Mountain virus, US95/96-US strain, and Farmington Hills virus. You can go on and on and on with examples: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zika_virus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zika_virus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_encephalitis_orthobunyavirus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_encephalitis_orthob... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Crosse_encephalitis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Crosse_encephalitis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Louis_encephalitis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Louis_encephalitis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Nile_virus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Nile_virus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaire_ebolavirus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaire_ebolavirus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marburg_virus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marburg_virus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borna_disease_virus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borna_disease_virus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coxsackievirus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coxsackievirus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omsk_hemorrhagic_fever https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omsk_hemorrhagic_fever https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langat_virus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langat_virus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyasanur_Forest_disease https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyasanur_Forest_disease https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkhurma_virus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkhurma_virus
- hellofunk 7y ago
  The world health organization changed its guidelines in 2015: https://www.who.int/topics/infectious_diseases/naming-new-diseases/en/ https://www.who.int/topics/infectious_diseases/naming-new-di... Of course older diseases would not likely have their names changed.
  - areyousure 7y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mengla_virus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mengla_virus (2019) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombali_ebolavirus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombali_ebolavirus (2018) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klosneuvirus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klosneuvirus (2017) Brazilian Marseillevirus https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26978387 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26978387 (2016) Port-Miou virus https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4661300/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4661300/ (2015)
deleted 7y ago
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egeozcan 7y ago

Totally, and also it is very important. In some Turkish-speaking forums I follow, some people already blame the "Chinese way of living" for such a disaster. This disassociation has been even too late, I'd say.

ash 7y ago
Covid-19 virus originated in Wuhan "wet market", where freshly-slaughtered wild meat is preferred. It's a perfect setting to facilitate virus movement from animal to animal and from animal to human. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/25/coronavirus-closures-reveal-vast-scale-of-chinas-secretive-wildlife-farm-industry https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/25/coronavi... And it happened before, with SARS in 2003: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndrome#Outbreak_in_South_China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndr...
- egeozcan 7y ago
  Even if it is so, Chinese way of living is not just that market and people are just being racist. If there is a specific thing wrong with that environment (I'm not the one to tell), it needs to be dealt as a single case, not by talking down the way of living of billions.

TheKarateKid 7y ago

What about the West Nile Virus, Zika virus, Spanish flu, etc.?

hellofunk 7y ago
Ebola would be one exception, as it is a river. But Spanish flu was not so named (if that's even a formal name) because of anything Spanish in origin; it was named that way because Spain was the only country reporting on it due to suppression of journalists around the world, including in the U.S., due to WWI. People got all their news on the flu from Spain, so it came to be called the Spanish flu.

areyousure 7y ago

The internationally accepted naming convention for influenza viruses, accepted by the WHO and followed by the (US) CDC, literally includes geographic origin in the naming of influenza viruses: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/viruses/types.htm https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/viruses/types.htm https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2395936/pdf/bullwho00427-0070.pdf https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2395936/pdf/bul... The WHO's recommended name for the virus that involved in its previous announced pandemic is "A(H1N1)pdm09", which literally stands for "pandemic disease Mexico 2009": https://www.who.int/influenza/gisrs_laboratory/terminology_ah1n1pdm09/en/ https://www.who.int/influenza/gisrs_laboratory/terminology_a... The name of this virus with respect to the naming convention mentioned above is literally "A/California/7/2009(H1N1)pdm", which you'll note has two specific places in it, one abbreviated and one not.

hellofunk 7y ago
The world health organization changed its guidelines in 2015: https://www.who.int/topics/infectious_diseases/naming-new-diseases/en/ https://www.who.int/topics/infectious_diseases/naming-new-di... Of course older diseases would not likely have their names changed.
- areyousure 7y ago
  The WHO itself posts recommendations for the composition of influenza vaccines: https://www.fludb.org/brc/vaccineRecommend.spg?decorator=influenza https://www.fludb.org/brc/vaccineRecommend.spg?decorator=inf... For the Northern Hemisphere this flu season they recommend strains like A/Brisbane/02/2018(H1N1), A/Kansas/14/2017(H3N2), B/Colorado/06/2017, and B/Phuket/3073/2013.
  - nl 7y ago
    Those are virus strain identifier names, not disease common names. IN that case the disease is called influenza. The WHO advice applies to the common usage: As these best practices only apply to disease names for common usage, they also do not affect the work of existing international authoritative bodies responsible for scientific taxonomy and nomenclature of microorganisms. https://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/notes/2015/naming-new-diseases/en/ https://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/notes/2015/naming-new-d...

areyousure 7y ago

Just in one single section of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norovirus#Classification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norovirus#Classification we find Norwalk virus (its original namesake), Southampton virus, Bristol virus, Lordsdale virus, Toronto virus, Mexico virus, Hawaii virus, Snow Mountain virus, US95/96-US strain, and Farmington Hills virus. You can go on and on and on with examples: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zika_virus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zika_virus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_encephalitis_orthobunyavirus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_encephalitis_orthob... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Crosse_encephalitis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Crosse_encephalitis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Louis_encephalitis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Louis_encephalitis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Nile_virus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Nile_virus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaire_ebolavirus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaire_ebolavirus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marburg_virus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marburg_virus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borna_disease_virus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borna_disease_virus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coxsackievirus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coxsackievirus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omsk_hemorrhagic_fever https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omsk_hemorrhagic_fever https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langat_virus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langat_virus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyasanur_Forest_disease https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyasanur_Forest_disease https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkhurma_virus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkhurma_virus

hellofunk 7y ago
The world health organization changed its guidelines in 2015: https://www.who.int/topics/infectious_diseases/naming-new-diseases/en/ https://www.who.int/topics/infectious_diseases/naming-new-di... Of course older diseases would not likely have their names changed.
- areyousure 7y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mengla_virus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mengla_virus (2019) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombali_ebolavirus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombali_ebolavirus (2018) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klosneuvirus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klosneuvirus (2017) Brazilian Marseillevirus https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26978387 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26978387 (2016) Port-Miou virus https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4661300/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4661300/ (2015)

deleted 7y ago

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