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When we learn of the emergence of a new disease that is wreaking havoc in a country or even around the world, we seek to inform ourselves of the causes, symptoms and ways to avoid it.
We rarely badyze the name of the disease. illness and who called it so.
However, the names of diseases have enormous political, economic and social weight.
"When a new threat to life arises, The first and most urgent concern is to name it ," says science journalist Laura Spinney in her book "Pale Cavalier: The 1918 Spanish flu and how it changed the world ".
Spinney explained to BBC Radio 4's "Word of Mouth" (Boca a boca) program why the denomination is so important.
"It's very difficult to talk about something that does not have a name and it's even harder to fight it – name, you can talk about it, discuss possible solutions, adopt or reject those solutions, to send a message of public health and ask people to comply, "he said.
"I think there is nothing more scary than something that has no name and you do not know what is," he added.
However, sometimes, when an infectious disease appears, the authorities rush to name it before even knowing all its symptoms and effects. And sometimes these names ended up being erroneous or confused.
An example cited by the expert is the pandemic known as Swine Flu appeared in 2009.
"He is likely to have occurred with the transmission of pigs to humans, but the reason why it has become a dangerous disease is that was infected between humans "he recalled.
The name chosen had serious consequences: many countries have banned imports of pork and in Egypt. they took the radical decision of to sacrifice all pigs : about 300 000 animals raised mainly by the Copts, a Christian minority.
The Spanish flu did not appear in Spain
The most famous case of a sick person A badly identified name was the worst flu epidemic in history, which killed more than 50 million people in the world in 1918 and 1919.
Still today, 100 years later, we continue to talk about influenza
However, "this disease was not particularly Spanish, said Spinney
"She touched Spain, but she did not start in Spain, but she probably started in the United States, but we do not know for sure. "
" The reason the Spanish flu was called is that Spain was neutral during the First World War and did not censor its newspapers, unlike the United States, the United Kingdom, France and to the nations. at war, they banned the report of the flu so as not to lower the morale of the population. "
"So when the Spaniards began to report the first cases that occurred in Madrid, which it was produced several months after the first cases in the United States – something they did not know -, the rest of the world thought that the disease had declared in Madrid and it was called the Spanish flu. "
Typical Names
Despite this error, the truth is that naming an illness by the place where it emerged – or if it is thought that it has appeared – was still very common.
The linguist Laura Wright enumerated the BBC Several examples, such as that of [ to Malta fever, Mediterranean fever or Lyme disease, named after the small Connecticut city, in the United States, where it was discovered.
Wright explained that before there were formerly experts scientists in viruses and bacteria, these diseases also bore the name of '' ''. animals, for example the chickenpox called chickenpox by chicken or scrofula, which in this language means "little breeding sow."
Another origin of the names is related to the 39, appearance or action of victims after contagion, eg small verol e ] ( smallpox ), so called in English because of the small marks left on his face.
In the modern era, certain diseases were also named according to the person who had suffered them. One example is Legionnaire's Disease, so named because the first known victims were American Legion participants participating in a hotel convention, in 1976.
Many conditions also apply. these names. scientists who identified the cause, such as listeriosis (named by the English surgeon Joseph Lister), Down syndrome or Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (also known as version name of mad cow disease)
Stigma
Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and professor of global health, told the BBC that many experts would deem him Poor taste his name to identify a deadly disease.
In 1976, Piot was one of the scientists who had discovered Ebola an illness that they had decided to call so a distant river. in the village of the Democratic Republic of Congo where this haemorrhagic fever was discovered.
The expert pointed out that the traditional method of naming diseases by their place of origin would have caused a lot of stigmatization.
"When you identify an illness with its name of a country that may have a political connotation and which also has enormous consequences : the borders are closed, the flights for that destination is canceled.This has huge implications for the overall economy of this country. "
To avoid it, in 2015, the Organization World Health Organization (WHO) has issued new rules for naming diseases and avoiding mistakes of the past.
"The name must not stigmatize or name specific places, animals or human groups, it must avoid alarming words such as" fatal "or" unknown "and must be neutral," Piot enumerated.
Danger
However, Laura Spinney warned that a neutral name, which does not mention the source of the contagion and it avoids ringing the alarm, that could be dangerous.
" I think the intention of WHO to avoid stigma and discrimination was good, but in this context a name should alert people and should clarify what are the sources potential infections to avoid. I have the impression that this will not happen with the new rules, "he said.
" These insipid and forgettable names are not going to alert people because they will not know what we are talking about. "
] The science journalist pointed out that sometimes naming things by name could have a positive effect.
" It is now thought that the next influenza pandemic could come from domestic poultry, but new rules, we could not say it ",
"Sometimes giving the name of the origin puts pressure on a sector to avoid that the risk is even greater. For example, & # 39; Avian Influenza & # 39; suggests a responsibility of the agricultural industry and the governments that regulate it. "
" But if this information is removed from the name, it is subject to less pressure and no one is bound. take charge. "
The experts agree that there is no specific person or group who decides on the name of an illness: may be a doctor, a politician, a bureaucrat or a journalist .
And the truth is that there are no rules. "The most eye-catching name is the one that lasts," Spinney said.
The linguist Wright, foresaw that the new WHO guidelines would have little effect.
the rules badume that there is a power capable of controlling the language and that There are none. People will call them as they wish. "he summed up.
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