# Should we start talking about Mpox (formerly called Monkeypox)? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [June 29, 2022, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-start-talking-about-mpox-formerly-called-monkeypox/967120 "2022-06-29T16:25:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2024, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-start-talking-about-mpox-formerly-called-monkeypox/967120/41 "2024-08-14T18:33:15Z")
It’s gotten worse: > **[WHO declares mpox outbreaks in Africa a global health emergency as a new form...](https://apnews.com/article/who-mpox-africa-health-emergency-cc9bdf31b49d06bec5efd44fb55d5e42)** > > The World Health Organization has declared the mpox outbreaks in Congo and elsewhere in Africa a global emergency. ---
**Author:** ![Eric1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3bc359/32.png) [@Eric1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eric1)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2024, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-start-talking-about-mpox-formerly-called-monkeypox/967120/42 "2024-08-14T22:06:26Z")
I think the vaccine is not that available in parts of Africa compared to where I live; that is a social problem maybe. I can’t say for sure as I don’t know anyone there. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2024, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-start-talking-about-mpox-formerly-called-monkeypox/967120/43 "2024-08-15T11:35:26Z")
Apparently, during the previous outbreak a couple of years ago, the death rate was around 1%. The current outbreak has a death rate between 3% and 4%. That sure seems like a fairly big increase. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2024, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-start-talking-about-mpox-formerly-called-monkeypox/967120/44 "2024-08-18T05:04:42Z")
It also appears to be striking people in a war zone, where everything is compromised already. If you aren’t in endemic areas, it’s probably nothing to worry about. ---
**Author:** ![Eric1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3bc359/32.png) [@Eric1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eric1)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2024, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-start-talking-about-mpox-formerly-called-monkeypox/967120/45 "2024-10-07T03:01:28Z")
There was some news article in my local paper today about giving of the Mpox vaccine to patients under 15 in central Africa. The article was trying to destigmatize patients by saying they of course didn’t get it from sexual contact. Although i can’t seem to find the article, it seemed like a good intermediary step. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2024, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-start-talking-about-mpox-formerly-called-monkeypox/967120/46 "2024-11-25T23:59:20Z")
This story appeared on NPR’s “Goats and Soda” last month, and a variation on this afternoon’s “All Things Considered.” TL : DR - Mpox appears to have crossed into the human population in the 1960s, coinciding with the eradication of smallpox, and the smallpox vaccine confers some immunity to mpox (and presumably vice versa). Of course, we’ve known about the reciprocity of cowpox for centuries; MHO vaxing against mpox would be much more practical, because AFAWK smallpox is extinct in the wild. > **[The end of smallpox was ... the beginning for mpox](https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2024/10/08/g-s1-26474/smallpox-mpox-virus-outbreak-vaccine-public-health)** > > Wiping out smallpox had an unintended consequence: the rise of mpox in the past few years. Here's the story — starting with patient zero for mpox back in 1970. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-start-talking-about-mpox-formerly-called-monkeypox/967120/47 "2025-10-01T01:45:22Z")
No more is it “formerly called Monkeypox”, the Trump administration has switched back to that name: > **[In 2022, the world axed a disease name seen as racist. US just switched back.](https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/09/trumps-cdc-brings-back-monkeypox-disease-name-despite-racist-connotation/)** > > The name was not only offensive, it was also inaccurate. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-start-talking-about-mpox-formerly-called-monkeypox/967120.md?page=2)