Experts urged to name disease, combat xenophobia

Experts have urged the World Health Organization to give the disease caused by the novel coronavirus a proper name as soon as possible to avoid further stigmatization of Chinese people due to disparaging unofficial titles used by news outlets and social media.

China's National Health Commission gave the disease caused by the virus a temporary official title on Saturday, calling it novel coronavirus pneumonia, or NCP. That name will be used by Chinese government agencies and media outlets until a permanent name has been determined by international organizations.

Without an official name, the virus is currently identified by the WHO as the clunky 2019-nCoV－shorthand for a novel coronavirus first detected in 2019－which does not resonate with news outlets or social media. It could also cause confusion if the virus mutates into a new strain or another new coronavirus appears in the future.

As a result, a variety of sensationalist and misleading names has emerged for the disease, including Wuhan SARS and Wu Flu. The pneumonia-causing pathogen is often referred to as the "China Virus" in headlines, a title that hearkens back to the xenophobic "Yellow Peril" slur used during the colonial era.

The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, the main organization responsible for classifying the virus based on its species, genus, family, etc., said it has submitted an entry to a scientific journal and is hoping the scientific name of the virus will be published soon.

The task of naming the infectious disease, however, falls to the WHO, which has not announced a schedule to officially name the illness that had claimed more than 810 lives and infected over 37,000 people in China as of midnight on Saturday.

Naming a disease is an extremely sensitive and difficult job. It requires a panel of scientists appointed by the WHO to come up with a name that is descriptive, catchy and does not stigmatize any culture, region, industry or individual. This effort is often aided by the World Organisation for Animal Health and the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization.

As a result, the process of naming a new pathogen can take months, with experts more focused on disease response measures or researching new drugs or vaccines. The SARS epidemic began in November 2002, but did not have an official name until March the next year.

The WHO said the first principle in naming a new human infectious disease was "do no harm". Unfortunately, history is littered with examples of troublesome names for emerging diseases that led to people being ostracized and businesses damaged.

In the 1980s, when the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, was discovered, it was first called "gay-related immune deficiency" by media, which helped spread homophobia. The demeaning title was later changed to HIV after it became clear that heterosexuals could also spread the virus.

The pork industry in the United States saw sales plummet in 2009 due to the so-called swine flu, first discovered in a boy who lived near a pig farm in Mexico. The unfounded fear of catching the disease from eating pork caused the US pork industry to lose more than $5 billion, according to the National Pork Producers Council.

The virus was later renamed H1N1 influenza. It infected more than 60 million people in the US between April 2009 and April 2010, killing up to 18,300 of them, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

A Beijing virologist, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, said the WHO should come up with a common name for the new ailment quickly, as Chinese people, especially those from Wuhan or Hubei province, were being discriminated against at home and abroad because people kept calling the disease "Wuhan coronavirus" or "Wuhan pneumonia".

"These stigmatizing names are becoming an excuse, and in some cases a political pretext, to justify mistreating the Chinese people and rallying anti-China supporters," he said.

Huang Chih-hsien, a political commentator from Taiwan, said last month that some of the island's media kept calling the disease "Wuhan pneumonia" even though a more neutral name was available in a crude fearmongering ploy aimed at hyping up hatred and contempt against Chinese mainlanders.

Mario Cavolo, an Italian-American who said he has lived in China for nearly 20 years, posted an article on his social media account saying a popular China City buffet restaurant in Mesa, Arizona, had seen no customers lately due to media hype about the viral outbreak.

"If you were in Miami and you heard that there was a virus outbreak that started in Milan, in Italy, would you cancel your dinner reservation at the Italian restaurant that night in South Beach? No," he said.

"The coronavirus is not called the China virus and neither was H1N1 called the America virus. These vicious, political, xenophobic, racist attacks and smearing of all things China need to stop."