Clades I, IIa and IIb: WHO assigns new names to Monkeypox variants

The World Health Organization (WHO) has given new designations to monkeypox virus strains that are currently in circulation. The WHO stated in a statement that this is done to prevent creating any cultural or societal offence. Clades I, IIa, and IIb were assigned to Monkeypox variants by the World Health Organization (WHO). Pox virology, evolutionary biology, and research institution representatives from around the world examined the phylogeny and nomenclature of known and novel monkeypox virus variations or clades.

“Newly identified viruses, related diseases and virus variants are given names to avoid causing offence to any cultural, social, national, regional, professional, or ethnic groups, and minimize the negative impact on trade, travel, tourism, or animal welfare,” said WHO said in a statement.

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“A group of global experts convened by WHO has agreed on new names for monkeypox virus variants, as part of ongoing efforts to align the names of the monkeypox disease, virus and variants–or clades–with current best practices. The experts agreed to name the clades using Roman numerals,” said a statement issued by WHO.

“The group reached consensus on new nomenclature for the virus clades which is in line with best practices. They agreed on how the virus clades should be recorded and classified on genome sequence repository sites,” read the statement.

According to WHO, “Consensus was reached to now refer to the former Congo Basin (Central African) clade as Clade one (I) and the former West African clade as Clade two (II). Additionally, it was agreed that the Clade II consists of two subclades.”