How virus variants get their confusing names and how to make them better
Right now we re stuck with jumbles of letters and numbers, or country names that stigmatize people from that region. Experts have a plan to fix that.
ByAmy McKeever
Email
Coronavirus variant names are strange and complicated. Sure, B.1.1.7 or P.1 might be perfectly fine names when virologists and microbiologists need to keep track of them but they’re not so useful for the public trying to make sense of the variants driving new COVID-19 surges.
Take it from Salim Abdool Karim, an epidemiologist and former chair of South Africa’s COVID-19 advisory committee. He helped name the variant that was first discovered in the country: 501Y.V2, which, confusingly, is also known as B.1.351 and 20H/501Y.V2.
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A coronavirus variant by any other name … please
A coronavirus variant by any other name … please
With no easy alternatives at hand, people have resorted to calling B.1.351 the South African variant Mar 03 2021, 00:07 ist
updated: Mar 03 2021, 04:38 ist
Those were the charming names that scientists proposed for a new variant of the coronavirus that was identified in South Africa. The convoluted strings of letters, numbers and dots are deeply meaningful for the scientists who devised them, but how was anyone else supposed to keep them straight? Even the easiest to remember, B.1.351, refers to an entirely different lineage of the virus if a single dot is missed or misplaced.
20H/501Y.V2. VOC 202012/02. B.1.351. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times Those were the charming names that scientists proposed for a new variant of the coronavirus that was identified in South Africa. The convoluted strings of letters, numbers and dots are deeply meaningful for the scientists who devised them, but how was anyone else supposed to keep them straight? Even the easiest to remember, B.1.351, refers to an entirely different lineage of the virus if a single dot is missed or misplaced. The naming conventions for viruses were fine as long as variants remained esoteric topics of research. But they are now the source of anxiety for billions of people. They need names that roll off the tongue, without stigmatizing the people or places associated with them. “What’s challenging is coming up with names that are distinct, that are informative, that don’t involve geographic references and that are kind of pronounceable and memorable,”
Covid 19 coronavirus: Why virus variants have such weird names nzherald.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nzherald.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.