I wrote a letter to the Guardian and it is published.
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I wrote a letter to the Guardian and it is published.
"During Covid, there were concerns about the virus being named after Wuhan in China, where it originated. Why can’t the World Health Organization and international media extend the same courtesy to countries like Uganda to avoid negative stereotypes?"
With Ebola, we need to learn from past failures | Ebola | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/24/with-ebola-we-need-to-learn-from-past-failures -
I wrote a letter to the Guardian and it is published.
"During Covid, there were concerns about the virus being named after Wuhan in China, where it originated. Why can’t the World Health Organization and international media extend the same courtesy to countries like Uganda to avoid negative stereotypes?"
With Ebola, we need to learn from past failures | Ebola | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/24/with-ebola-we-need-to-learn-from-past-failures@dilmandila Sadly, we all know why.
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I wrote a letter to the Guardian and it is published.
"During Covid, there were concerns about the virus being named after Wuhan in China, where it originated. Why can’t the World Health Organization and international media extend the same courtesy to countries like Uganda to avoid negative stereotypes?"
With Ebola, we need to learn from past failures | Ebola | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/24/with-ebola-we-need-to-learn-from-past-failures@dilmandila
I thought people wanted to avoid the allegations that people in Wuhan intentionally engineered the virus. -
I wrote a letter to the Guardian and it is published.
"During Covid, there were concerns about the virus being named after Wuhan in China, where it originated. Why can’t the World Health Organization and international media extend the same courtesy to countries like Uganda to avoid negative stereotypes?"
With Ebola, we need to learn from past failures | Ebola | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/24/with-ebola-we-need-to-learn-from-past-failures@dilmandila Very true, sir.
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@MrInappropriate @dilmandila California swine 'flu, anyone?
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I wrote a letter to the Guardian and it is published.
"During Covid, there were concerns about the virus being named after Wuhan in China, where it originated. Why can’t the World Health Organization and international media extend the same courtesy to countries like Uganda to avoid negative stereotypes?"
With Ebola, we need to learn from past failures | Ebola | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/24/with-ebola-we-need-to-learn-from-past-failures@dilmandila The Argentinian hanta virus is getting notoriety. It distinguishes it from other forms of the virus. Is there a likewise regional distinctions between forms of ebola?
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I wrote a letter to the Guardian and it is published.
"During Covid, there were concerns about the virus being named after Wuhan in China, where it originated. Why can’t the World Health Organization and international media extend the same courtesy to countries like Uganda to avoid negative stereotypes?"
With Ebola, we need to learn from past failures | Ebola | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/24/with-ebola-we-need-to-learn-from-past-failures@dilmandila the PRC is rich and has convinced the world that their invented State-race of "Chinese" is real, whereas Uganda is poor and has no way to counter the racist presumption of Africa as a monoethnic entity, or that ethnicity has anything to do with anything at all outside of social contexts
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@dilmandila The Argentinian hanta virus is getting notoriety. It distinguishes it from other forms of the virus. Is there a likewise regional distinctions between forms of ebola?
@CStamp @libroraptor It appears to be a strain of Ebola that is different from others, and doesn't have the a vaccine.
But the way it is being mentioned made me raise an eyebrow. You find headlines like "What is Bundibugyo" without any words to clarify it is a virus named after a place. You don't see them write "what is California" or "what is Argentina" when talking about those flu and viruses. This can create ethnic tensions by making it appear people from Bundibugyo carry the virus.
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@CStamp @libroraptor It appears to be a strain of Ebola that is different from others, and doesn't have the a vaccine.
But the way it is being mentioned made me raise an eyebrow. You find headlines like "What is Bundibugyo" without any words to clarify it is a virus named after a place. You don't see them write "what is California" or "what is Argentina" when talking about those flu and viruses. This can create ethnic tensions by making it appear people from Bundibugyo carry the virus.
@CStamp @libroraptor But even long before Covid people used to grumble about why the diseases are named after places. The one I remember was during an outbreak of West Nile Virus (can't remember the year), and it was the first time Ugandans were confronted with a virus named after a place and people weren't amused. Ebola is actually the name of a river in Congo, but try saying "I'm going to Ebola for a holiday" and see how people react.
(Edited to correct factual error)
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@CStamp @libroraptor But even long before Covid people used to grumble about why the diseases are named after places. The one I remember was during an outbreak of West Nile Virus (can't remember the year), and it was the first time Ugandans were confronted with a virus named after a place and people weren't amused. Ebola is actually the name of a river in Congo, but try saying "I'm going to Ebola for a holiday" and see how people react.
(Edited to correct factual error)
@dilmandila the West Nile (that I know of) is thankfully not related to Ebola (I've had West Nile, it is bad) but what is interesting to note that it is also named after a place, but as it is talked about where I'm from that is just its name, maybe it is a little more abstract than other place named ones. My region still gets it pretty bad most years. But, it IS named after a place and that sucks and we really shouldn't do that as you said.
Edited for clarity
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I wrote a letter to the Guardian and it is published.
"During Covid, there were concerns about the virus being named after Wuhan in China, where it originated. Why can’t the World Health Organization and international media extend the same courtesy to countries like Uganda to avoid negative stereotypes?"
With Ebola, we need to learn from past failures | Ebola | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/24/with-ebola-we-need-to-learn-from-past-failures@dilmandila They should give them names like they do hurricanes. I nominate this one to be called Trump.
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@dilmandila the West Nile (that I know of) is thankfully not related to Ebola (I've had West Nile, it is bad) but what is interesting to note that it is also named after a place, but as it is talked about where I'm from that is just its name, maybe it is a little more abstract than other place named ones. My region still gets it pretty bad most years. But, it IS named after a place and that sucks and we really shouldn't do that as you said.
Edited for clarity
@dilmandila thanks for speaking up about this issue. There are still lots of lasting effects of trump calling covid "asian flu" etc 6 years ago that hurt Asian people everywhere. Ugandans deserve that same respect not to be directly associated and having to face added tensions/social dangers.
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@CStamp @libroraptor But even long before Covid people used to grumble about why the diseases are named after places. The one I remember was during an outbreak of West Nile Virus (can't remember the year), and it was the first time Ugandans were confronted with a virus named after a place and people weren't amused. Ebola is actually the name of a river in Congo, but try saying "I'm going to Ebola for a holiday" and see how people react.
(Edited to correct factual error)
@dilmandila @CStamp We have Tapanui 'Flu here, too. It was widely used to dismiss the illness, like saying "man 'flu". Ross River virus is another one not far from us.
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@CStamp @libroraptor But even long before Covid people used to grumble about why the diseases are named after places. The one I remember was during an outbreak of West Nile Virus (can't remember the year), and it was the first time Ugandans were confronted with a virus named after a place and people weren't amused. Ebola is actually the name of a river in Congo, but try saying "I'm going to Ebola for a holiday" and see how people react.
(Edited to correct factual error)
@dilmandila @libroraptor Thanks, great points.
This seems a good article that also gives reasons why they should change naming conventions. The WHO actually issued a new best practices.
Why Scientists Should Not Name Diseases Based On Location | ASM.org
Naming diseases after geographic locations can negatively impact communities and cultures, and often is misleading. WHO's 2015 guidelines favor generic, symptom-based nomenclature to reduce misconceptions.
ASM.org (asm.org)
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I wrote a letter to the Guardian and it is published.
"During Covid, there were concerns about the virus being named after Wuhan in China, where it originated. Why can’t the World Health Organization and international media extend the same courtesy to countries like Uganda to avoid negative stereotypes?"
With Ebola, we need to learn from past failures | Ebola | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/24/with-ebola-we-need-to-learn-from-past-failures@dilmandila Ah! Good! Excellent question! You see, the world doesn't want to offend China because money.
No shit is given about offending Africa, because systems have long been in place by which for the world to efficiently extract all the money from Africa regardless of how anyone there might feel about it.
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@dilmandila the West Nile (that I know of) is thankfully not related to Ebola (I've had West Nile, it is bad) but what is interesting to note that it is also named after a place, but as it is talked about where I'm from that is just its name, maybe it is a little more abstract than other place named ones. My region still gets it pretty bad most years. But, it IS named after a place and that sucks and we really shouldn't do that as you said.
Edited for clarity
@Trenton_Hoshiko You had ebola? Wow. You are actually the first person I'm meeting who had the disease, and it is strange as you are in the US (right?) the rest are people I only hear about in the news, so this feels weird.
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@Trenton_Hoshiko You had ebola? Wow. You are actually the first person I'm meeting who had the disease, and it is strange as you are in the US (right?) the rest are people I only hear about in the news, so this feels weird.
@dilmandila no, sorry to be unclear, I have had (what we know as) West Nile Virus, which isnt related to Ebola, thankfully. While very bad, it isn’t nearly as deadly as Ebola. It is more like a mosquito-borne severe flu. But it can be quite disabling.
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I wrote a letter to the Guardian and it is published.
"During Covid, there were concerns about the virus being named after Wuhan in China, where it originated. Why can’t the World Health Organization and international media extend the same courtesy to countries like Uganda to avoid negative stereotypes?"
With Ebola, we need to learn from past failures | Ebola | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/24/with-ebola-we-need-to-learn-from-past-failures@dilmandila
It is against WHO best practice to name infectious diseases after places, people etc.I think Ebola and the Andes Hanta were named before these guidelines? Obviously, renaming existing diseases would have both benefits and drawbacks.
https://iris.who.int/server/api/core/bitstreams/e2efda27-84fe-475d-9bb8-008f1b8f5212/content
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@dilmandila no, sorry to be unclear, I have had (what we know as) West Nile Virus, which isnt related to Ebola, thankfully. While very bad, it isn’t nearly as deadly as Ebola. It is more like a mosquito-borne severe flu. But it can be quite disabling.
@Trenton_Hoshiko Oh yes, sorry. It was my confusion. I reread your post, my bad.
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@Trenton_Hoshiko Oh yes, sorry. It was my confusion. I reread your post, my bad.
@dilmandila no worries at all! Just didn't want it to be confusing because you're very correct that there would be almost no chance of me having Ebola.
But, again, thanks for speaking on this topic.
