GC: n
S: CDC – https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/mpox/about/ (last access: 6 October 2023); NHS – https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/mpox/ (last access: 6 October 2023).
N: 1. Clipping of monkeypox coined in 2022, chosen in order to discourage racist and stigmatizing interpretations of that word. Coined by Montreal-based RÉZO, in consultation with other Canadian organizations, in parallel with the effort to change the French term.
. Alternative forms: MPOX, MPox, Mpox.
2. monkeypox, viral disease of animals, particularly certain rodents and primates, including monkeys and humans, that causes symptoms similar to those of smallpox, though less severe. It is caused by the monkeypox virus, a member of the same virus family that causes smallpox and cowpox.
Monkeypox was first identified in laboratory monkeys in 1958. The virus is usually found in primates and rodents in Central and West Africa, where monkeypox has proved to be most dangerous in children, who have had a mortality rate as high as 10 percent in some outbreaks. In addition, the monkeypox virus has been brought out of Africa in infected “exotic pets,” such as giant pouched rats, brush-tailed porcupines, and rope squirrels. In the United States, captive prairie dogs infected by imported African pets have passed monkeypox to humans. Infected animals may display fever, rashes, swollen lymph nodes, eye discharge, and general listlessness.
3. A viral zoonosis transmissible to humans that causes skin lesions resembling those of smallpox.
4. mpox; monkeypox: In November 2022, the World Health Organization adopted the designation “mpox” to replace the designation “monkeypox,” since it can be considered offensive.
S: 1. Wiktionary – https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mpox (last access: 6 October 2023). 2. EncBrit – https://www.britannica.com/science/monkeypox (last access: 6 October 2023). 3&4. TERMIUM PLUS – https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=mpox&index=alt&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs (last access: 6 October 2023).
SYN: monkeypox, simian smallpox.
S: TERMIUM PLUS – https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=mpox&index=alt&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs (last access: 6 October 2023)
