In May, 2015, WHO recommended best practices for naming new infectious diseases to avoid offense or economic effect for any ethnic, regional, or other groups.1 Although mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) is not new, WHO has endorsed mpox as the new name for this re-emerging disease and backed the scientific community to agree on neutral nomenclature for variants of viruses. | | The first report of mpox that led to the discovery of the global outbreak was made to WHO on May 13, 2022. The outbreak spread to 110 countries2 and was declared a public health emergency of international concern. The Director-General of WHO called on member states to ensure respect for human rights and to address stigma and discrimination.3 As of Jan 31, 2023, there were 85 549 confirmed cases of mpox reported by 110 countries, including 89 deaths.2

The Buffalo Cardio-metabolic Occupational Police Stress study, an occupational cohort study of police officers, was conducted to evaluate physiologic and stress measures in a high-risk occupation where occupational exposure to difficult criminal situations can lead to physiologic and psychological health consequences among those who enforce the law. The chronic exposure to human tragedy may place police officers at special risk for mental health disorders and the potential for misuse of alcohol or drugs. While exact etiologies of post-traumatic stress were not determined by this study, overall post-traumatic stress (PTS) prevalence rates among the police officers was 35%, with 10% of individuals demonstrating severe PTS symptomatology. Waking cortisol measures tended to be higher among officers with more PTS symptomatology, with some gender related differences noted. Given the increase in incarcerations for addictions related offenses over the past 20 years and the chronic exposure to human suffering and tragedy, early recognition of PTS symptoms is essential in making the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress in high-risk occupational cohorts. Providing early entry into treatment and subsequently attempting to eliminate or minimize long-term consequences of post-traumatic stress can have a significant impact on the prevention of long term sequelae of chronic stress, such as the use or misuse of drugs or alcohol.