samhexum Posted August 23 Posted August 23 What is ‘sloth fever’? This rare Amazon virus is spreading—here's what you should know APPLE.NEWS So far in 2025, the illness has sickened over 12,000 people in 11 countries across the Americas.
+ Vegas_Millennial Posted August 23 Posted August 23 1 hour ago, samhexum said: What is ‘sloth fever’? This rare Amazon virus is spreading—here's what you should know APPLE.NEWS So far in 2025, the illness has sickened over 12,000 people in 11 countries across the Americas. Any over/under bets on when the CDC changes the name of "sloth fever" to something else, because some university students decide a sloth should be considered offensive as a made up derogatory slur? 🤣 If it starts spreading in the US, I'll give it until January 2027 before we're chastised for referring to it as sloth fever. samhexum and pubic_assistance 1 1
+ SirBillybob Posted August 23 Posted August 23 (edited) It’s already called Oropouche virus and zoonotic transmission is not restricted to sloths, so ‘sloth fever’ is actually inaccurate. It would be more accurate to call it ‘midge fever’ but we shouldn’t joke about serious diseases or compromise Mattel. Although what could have been a less expected pop culture moment than the portmanteau combining a doll and atomic bomb? Edited August 23 by SirBillybob samhexum 1
mike carey Posted August 24 Posted August 24 Ladies and Gentlemen, there is a serious topic here, and both the nature of the disease and its name are serious topics. We don't need to veer into fanciful names or reasons to change it, there is enough to discuss while staying on topic. We've removed a few posts that went too far. Thank you for your attention to this matter. pubic_assistance and Cooper 1 1
mike carey Posted August 24 Posted August 24 Disease names don't always accurately describe them, but we learn to live with them. In this case, as noted, sloths aren't the only animal affected, and midges are a vector (like mosquitos for other viruses), so neither is entirely accurate. Mpox was so-named for a variety of reasons, among them the tenuous links to monkeys, so moving on from the link to sloths is possible but not certain. If it does change, it will not be a US entity that changes it but the WHO. + SirBillybob 1
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