12 ms·

Marburg.

• ceejayoz 7y ago
  "Marburg virus was first described in 1967."
  • at_a_remove 7y ago
    And shall we rename it?
    • ceejayoz 7y ago
      Marburg's name is at least accurate. There are two separate issues here: Place-based names cause a stigma (an issue for new diseases, less so for historical ones) and that "Spanish flu" is actually completely wrong on the origins of that specific disease.
      • at_a_remove 7y ago
        So why the timing to rename it? Why now? I am asking that because you did not address it in my original comment, so I am going to harp on it again. Why now?
        • ceejayoz 7y ago
          Why not? It was a global pandemic that didn't even start in Spain. We happen to be paying a lot of attention to it because it's the last really global pandemic of similar severity/spread to the COVID-19 outbreak. The increased attention to this little bit of history has us asking whether we should correct the inaccuracy in its name. Even the CDC calls it the "1918 flu pandemic". https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-commemoration/1918-pandemic-history.htm https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-commemoratio... Not as a reaction to COVID-19, either: "Page last reviewed: March 21, 2018"
          • at_a_remove 7y ago
            That isn't what I was asking. I asked, why now. What about this instance in time has prompted this? Also, I was talking about Wikipedia. Please do not move the goalposts on me. I guess the Socratic method isn't going to work here. Bluntly put, some folks are full Ministry-of-Truthing away at Wikipedia to help justify their attempts at erasure of the "Wuhan flu," China connection. That's why it is happening now. "See, we don't call it the 'Spanish flu,' so why should we call it ..." It's terribly skeezy.
            • ceejayoz 7y ago
              You’re reading a lot of malice into “let’s call it what the CDC called it two years before all this”. The timeline doesn’t work.