Beware the No Name Virus
Posted By John Moore on February 24, 2003
Viruses are normally named after a landmark near where they were first discovered. Thus Ebola is named after the Ebola River, near the home of it’s first case. Marburg (a relative of Ebola) was first discovered in Marburg, Germany. Hantavirus was first discovered during the Korean War and was named after the Hantaan River.
In 1993 when several healthy young Navajo’s from near Muerto Canyon suddenly died within a short period of time, the new viral pathogen was named the “Muerto Canyon Virus”. The Navajo Tribe strongly objected to the name, so the virus became the “Four Corners Virus.” The tribe and others objected again, fearing harm to tourism.
In frustration, the virologists finally came up with a name that couldn’t offend anyone – even though it violated the tradition of virus naming: “Sin Nombre Virus“.
For those who remember their Latin, this means the “No Name Virus”! Science is once again is mangled by the forces of political correctness.
By the way, since the Sin Nombre Virus is too long for a news articles and hard for TV talking heads to pronounce, and the pathogen is of the Hantavirus family, it is now widely known as just Hantavirus.
Thank you so much for that tidbit of superfluos knowlege. I had read somewhere that someone objected to the term Four Corner’s virus and therefore the name change. I was doing a report for Microbiology and looked everywhere trying to find this info. I was so happy to run across this website. It will add the perfect touch of trivia to my presentation, while poking fun at political correctness’ invasion into all aspects of our American desire to please everyone.
Thank you again,
AQnn