Fact Check

How do viruses get their names? From Spanish flu to COVID-19

Updated May 20, 2020 11:07:28

In just a few short weeks, COVID-19 became part of the global lexicon, uttered daily in tones of dread and as shorthand for the pandemic now afflicting the world.

But how was its name derived; likewise, the names of other fatal viruses?

Key points

  • Viruses usually used to be named after the area they were first discovered, but WHO has since changed the practice to avoid discrimination
  • The Hendra virus, for example, was named after the Brisbane suburb of Hendra
  • Some experts have railed against the new conventions, saying they could lead to an inability to distinguish between diseases

Donald Trump has been referring to COVID-19 as the "Chinese virus" and, while there may be political imperatives for doing so, giving the virus a geographical label isn't without precedent.

Until 2015, viruses were usually named after the area or locale where they were thought to have originated. Think: Ebola, Hendra and MERS.

This was the case until the World Health Organisation called upon scientists, governments and the media to adhere to what it called "best practices" by naming viruses so as to minimise "unnecessary negative effects on nations, economies and people".

According to Dr Keiji Fukuda, WHO's assistant director-general for health security, "the use of names such as 'swine flu' and 'Middle East Respiratory Syndrome' [have] had unintended negative impacts by stigmatising certain communities or economic sectors" and "certain disease names provoke a backlash against members of particular religious or ethnic communities, [and] create unjustified barriers to travel, commerce and trade".

However, not everyone was convinced about the merits of WHO's policy shift.

Linfa Wang, then working on emerging infectious diseases at the Australian Animal Health Laboratory in Geelong, told the journal Science: "It will certainly lead to boring names and a lot of confusion."

Another expert, virologist Christian Drosten, of the University of Bonn, responded in the same article: "You should not take political correctness so far that in the end no one is able to distinguish these diseases."

Despite such reservations, and the obvious geographical focus of the first identified case of the disease, WHO announced on February 11 that the novel coronavirus would be named COVID-19, an abbreviation of "coronavirus disease 2019" — "CO" (corona), "VI" (virus), "D" (disease) and "19" (2019).

"We had to find a name that did not refer to a geographical location, an animal, an individual or group of people, and which is also pronounceable and related to the disease," explained WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.


The virus referred to in the abbreviation COVID-19 is actually known as SARS-Cov2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2).

And the reason these viruses are called coronaviruses to begin with is because of their appearance: under the microscope, they look like they are covered with pointed structures that surround them like a corona or crown.

Their effect, however, ranges widely — from the common cold to severe respiratory illnesses.

Here is a chronological list of notable viruses and how they were labelled.

Spanish flu

A likely misnomer, the Spanish flu is so named because Spain is where media reports of the outbreak first emerged. As one of the few countries to remain neutral in World War I, its press was not censored and therefore able to report on the outbreak without fear of affecting public morale.

Since nations under media blackout could only read about the illness from Spanish sources, it became known as "the Spanish Flu" in May 1918. Its actual origin is still debated with France, China, Britain and the US all nominated as possible sources.

Zika virus

The virus was first identified in the Zika valley, in central Africa, in 1947 and is spread by infected mosquitoes in the Aedes genus.

Its greatest risk is associated with birth defects, when an expectant mother becomes infected with the virus.


One of the deadliest infections, Ebola virus disease (EVD) was discovered in 1976 when two consecutive outbreaks of fatal haemorrhagic fever occurred in different parts of central Africa.

The first occurred in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) in a village near the Ebola river.

Hendra virus

A rare emerging zoonosis (a disease that can be transmitted to humans from animals), Hendra virus (HeV) infection can cause severe and often fatal illness in both horses and humans.

HeV was identified during the first recorded outbreak of the disease in the Brisbane suburb of Hendra in 1994.


Identified in 2003, the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) coronavirus, or SARS-CoV, is thought to be an animal virus that originated from an animal reservoir, perhaps bats, that spread to other animals (civet cats) and first infected humans in Guangdong province, southern China, in 2002.

Swine flu (H1N1)

The 2009 H1N1 influenza virus was first detected in people in the US in April 2009.

This virus was originally referred to as "swine flu" because laboratory testing showed that its gene segments were similar to influenza viruses that were most recently identified in — and known to circulate among — pigs.


Middle East Respiratory Syndrome is an illness caused by a virus (more specifically, a coronavirus) known as MERS-CoV.

Health officials first reported the disease in Saudi Arabia in September 2012. Later investigations identified the first known cases of MERS to have occurred in Jordan in April 2012.


The first case of the 2019 novel coronavirus was reported in Wuhan, China in December 2019. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the virus named SARS-CoV-2 and, as previously noted, is shorthand for 'coronavirus disease 2019'.

Principal researcher: Ted Tilbrook


Topics: covid-19, epidemics-and-pandemics

First posted May 20, 2020 08:54:38