When we are born, we are given names that stay with us for our whole lives. Some names include good wishes and hopes from parents, while others may be unique and easy to remember. But do you know how the new coronavirus got its name?
我們出生時就有了名字，名字與我們相伴一生。一些名字中包含了父母的美好祝愿與希冀，還有些名字獨特又好記。但你知道新型冠狀病毒是如何命名的嗎？
According to International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, an organization responsible for naming new viruses, the task of naming a virus is no less important than naming a person.
負責為新病毒命名的機構(gòu)國際病毒分類委員會表示，為一種病毒命名的重要性不亞于為一個人起名。
When a disease breaks out, people focus on the public health response and the official naming of a new virus is often delayed. But that may lead to many problems. The most obvious one is that different media organizations may use different names for the same virus in their reports. As we enter the internet era, information and news can spread to every household in seconds. This means different names can take hold quickly and be hard to take back, which may confuse those who know little about the virus.
當一種疾病爆發(fā)時，人們的關(guān)注點都在公共衛(wèi)生應(yīng)急反應(yīng)上，新病毒命名常有所延誤。但這或許會帶來許多問題。最顯而易見的莫過于，不同的媒體機構(gòu)在報道中或許會使用不同的名稱來指代同一種病毒。隨著我們進入互聯(lián)網(wǎng)時代，信息和新聞分秒間便能傳遍家家戶戶。也就是說，這些不同的名字很快就會被接收，但想把它們收回就難了，對病毒不甚了解的人們或許會對此感到困惑。
But naming a virus is never easy. Over the past decade, some improper names have caused problems. In 2009, the “swine flu” was widely used before the official name, H1N1 virus, was announced. This led Egypt to slaughter all of its pigs even though it emerged and spread among people who hadn’t been near pigs. In 2015, MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) caused a backlash against the nations and people of this region.
但為病毒命名也絕非易事。在過去的十年間，一些不恰當?shù)拿忠l(fā)了種種問題。2009年，在病毒H1N1的正式名稱被公布之前，“豬流感”一詞被廣泛使用。這導致埃及打算屠宰國內(nèi)所有的豬，盡管在未接觸豬的人群中也出現(xiàn)了傳播感染。2015年的中東呼吸綜合征則引發(fā)了對中東地區(qū)的國家和人們的強烈抵制。
So in 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the names of viruses should be easy to remember but avoid being named after geographic locations, people, species or classes of animals and foods.
因此，2015年，世界衛(wèi)生組織宣布，病毒名稱應(yīng)當容易記憶，但要避免涉及地理位置、人群、物種或者動物和食物的分類。
Following these principles, the new coronavirus we are suffering from was named “COVID-19” by the WHO on Feb 11. In this name, “CO” means “corona”, “VI” stands for “virus” and “D” means “disease”.
遵循這些原則，世界衛(wèi)生組織2月11日將我們正遭受的新型冠狀病毒肺炎命名為“COVID-19”。在這一名字中，CO代表冠狀（corona），VI代表病毒（virus），D代表疾病（disease）。
Next time you read about a virus you don’t know, you may get some clues about it from its name.
下次當你讀到一種你不知道的病毒時，你或許能從其名字中找到一些線索。
(Translator & Editor: Wang Xingwei AND Luo Sitian)
http://www.cycjq.cn/story/3468.html
