Context: Recently, dermatologists from India and 13 other counties objected to the region-specific nomenclature given to a novel species of fungus — Trichophyton (T.) indotineae.
The name of the fungus is prejudicial and ignores the recommendations of the World Health Organisation (WHO). These names often lead to considerable misinformation, stigma, and racial prejudice.
Relevance of the Topic: Prelims: Trichophyton indotineae; How are diseases named?
About Trichophyton indotineae
- The fungus was spotted in patients from India and Nepal in 2020. It was considered a new species and named Trichophyton indotineae.
- However, the origin of the fungus is not clearly known.
- Subsequently, it has been reported from more than 40 countries.
- It causes widespread and hard-to-treat skin infections (often appearing as red, itchy, and scaly patches), and is resistant to most anti-fungal medicines (first-line drugs).
How are diseases named?
- Assigning names to new diseases and to existing diseases (in rare cases) is the responsibility of the WHO under the International Classification of Diseases.
- It is done through a consultative process which includes WHO member states, following the 2015 guidelines by WHO.
- Terms that should be avoided in disease names include:
- Geographic locations (E.g., Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, Spanish Flu, Rift Valley fever)
- People’s names (E.g., Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Chagas disease)
- Species of animal or food (E.g., Swine flu, bird flu, monkey pox)
- Cultural, population, industry or occupational references (E.g., legionnaires)
- Terms that incite undue fear (E.g., unknown, fatal, epidemic).
- The disease name should consist of generic descriptive terms, based on the symptoms that the disease causes (E.g., respiratory disease, neurologic syndrome, watery diarrhoea).