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Toponymous Diseases
Context:
Toponymous diseases, named after places or regions, have long been a source of confusion, misinformation, and prejudice. The names can lead to racial prejudice, politicise scientific findings, and harm international cooperation in combating diseases.
Understanding Toponymous Diseases
- Definition: Toponymous diseases are named after geographic locations—towns, rivers, islands, mountains, countries, and continents.
- Examples: Spanish flu, Delhi boil, Madura foot, West Nile Virus.
The Harm Caused by Geographical Naming
- Misinformation and Stigma: Such names can lead to misinformation, racial prejudice, and the tarnishing of regions and communities.
- Case Study: Spanish Flu
- Despite its name, the 1918–1920 influenza pandemic didn’t originate in Spain.
- Spain’s neutrality in World War I meant its media reported freely on the pandemic, unlike war nations that suppressed news to maintain morale.
- This led to the mistaken naming, linking the deadly flu (which affected 500 million and killed over 20 million people) unfairly to Spain.
WHO’s Initiative to Correct Naming Practices
- Mandate in 2015: The World Health Organisation (WHO) mandated that diseases should be named based on scientific characteristics, avoiding geographical references.
- Successful Renaming Efforts:
- Zika Virus: Named after Uganda’s Zika forest where it was first discovered in 1947. The related fetal condition was later renamed to congenital Zika syndrome to focus on scientific clarity.
- Mpox: The term mpox replaced monkeypox to curb racist and stigmatising language associated with the original name.
WHO’s Naming Guidelines
- Responsibilities: WHO assigns disease names via the International Classification of Diseases through consultative processes involving member states.
- Key Criteria
- Scientific appropriateness and rationale.
- Avoidance of geographical, zoological, or cultural references.
- Pronounceability and ease of historical information retrieval.
- Sensitivity to stigma and misrepresentation.
Ethical Renaming: Learning from History
- Reiter’s Syndrome: Originally named after Hans Reiter, a German physician who first described it in 1916.
- Post-World War II revelations of Reiter’s Nazi associations and unethical experiments led to the disease being renamed reactive arthritis.
The Path Forward
- Precision in Language: Scientists and global health organisations must prioritise accurate, unbiased naming that focuses on scientific facts.
- Global Sensitivity: Naming should avoid fuelling stereotypes and stigma, recognising that diseases affect the global community indiscriminately.
- Unified Approach: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic underscored the need for global solidarity, sensitivity, and collective action to combat health crises.
