Outrage Over Virus Name
By Hannah Isom
Imagine how you would feel if scientists named a particularly nasty new disease after your home town. Residents of a southern Malaysian region are more than a little miffed that a new kind of bat virus has been named Melaka.The virus is usually found in bats, but it has been known to cross the species barrier and cause respiratory illness in humans. It was christened 'Melaka' back in early 2006, when it was isolated from a man in the region who was suffering from flu-like symptoms.
Fortunately, the man recovered, but it was later discovered he, and several members of his family, had become ill after a wild bat entered their home. They all tested positive for a virus very similar one previously discovered in bats in the late 90s, and the name just sort of stuck.
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He also said that the ill-advised name choice was "an insult" to Melaka, which is heavily reliant on foreign tourism for much of its income. Rustam now plans to send and official letter of objection to the Ministry to get the name revoked, right away.
Yet the people of Melaka are not the first disgruntled citizens unlucky enough to reside in the hometown of a disease. Lassa fever, Marburg virus and Ebola virus were all named after their respective places of discovery.
Ali Rustam suggested that it would be more suitable to name the virus after one of the scientists who made the discovery. Though, given the name of the scientist who headed up the research team, it would be called 'Wang Virus', which I think we will all agree is not much of an improvement.
Why not check out Hannah's homepage for more top stories
Or maybe have a butchers at these:
- News - Bats get the munchies
- Strange - Why Irish men get bitten
- News - Putting names to faces
Picture courtesy of Adam Brokes
Your Say
Do you think we should tell them that in Greek 'malaka' means 'asshole'?
Clifford Strong
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