Global health chiefs are considering renaming monkeypox amid concerns over stigma and racism.
Officials at the World Health Organisation (WHO) are weighing up new names after a respected group of scientists called for it to be "urgently" changed.
The virus has swept across the world in the past month, having previously been classified as endemic in parts of central and west Africa.
But experts have raised doubts about how widely it had been in circulation around the world, due to lack of testing.
There have been 470 confirmed infections in the UK this year - compared to just seven prior to 2022.
In an open letter last week 30 international scientists said branding the virus 'monkeypox' is both discriminatory and inaccurate.
They objected to the labelling of the virus having originated in Africa, stating: "Like many previous geographic labels of infectious diseases based on locations of first detection, it is misleading and inaccurate because very limited surveillance and limited diagnostic capacity means that the full range of the pathogen is not known.
"This is crucially demonstrated by the discovery in May 2022 that MPXV has been circulating in over 44 countries without detection and is likely to be present in many more."
The letter said identifying monkeypox as an African virus is both "discriminatory and stigmatizing" - and said a new way of referring to the disease in widespread circulation is needed.
Calling for a new name, they wrote: "Since viruses in this clade have been transmitting from person to person in dozens of countries and potentially over multiple years, we propose that this represents transmission route distinct from that of previous MPXV cases in humans and should be afforded a distinct name....
"Whilst the formal naming of virus species is the purview of the International Committee of Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV), we believe this is an opportunity for a break with the name monkeypox and the historical associations attached to that name.
"However, we believe that a distinct and convenient name for the virus causing this epidemic would facilitate communication without further negative connotations."
The WHO is consulting with experts in orthopoxviruses in order to come up with a more appropriate name, Bloomberg reports.
