The Brainerd and the Eponym

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Podcast: The Brainerd and the Eponym
Length: 4 min 40 seconds
Written and read by the author

To protect the name of Yambuku village from this type of stigma, Dr. Piot christened the deadly virus which generates hemorrhagic fever “Ebola” after the tributary to the Congo River. When thinking of additional challenges arising from geographic eponyms, we can look to Ebola’s sister virus Marburg. In 1967, outbreaks of hemorrhagic fever raged across several vaccine laboratories in Marburg, Frankfurt, and Belgrade. Despite Marburg drawing the short stick, the virus originated from imported African green monkey tissue. African fruit bats maintain the virus as the natural reservoir. Not only can this nomenclature stigmatize locations but can be misleading as to the geographic risk of disease. Outside of errant green monkey tissue, Germany and Serbia do not represent hotbeds of Marburg virus.

Of course, eponyms typically refer to naming something after a person rather than geographic eponyms like we have discussed thus far.  For example, the minor planet 4864 in our asteroid belt bears the celestial name Nimoy after Leonard Nimoy. The golden spiral and mathematical numerical sequence which creates it also carries the name Fibonacci for the brilliant mathematician. Researchers in medicine also wanted to gain access to this portal of immortality however its acquisition might be viewed as a bit of a monkey’s paw by the rest of the family.  For an erudite scientist, having Alzheimer’s disease named after yourself represents a remarkable accolade. His children and progeny, however, might feel the cut from this double-edged sword. Image the inappropriate jokes that might arise when a young Abe or a young Abby Alzheimer forgot their homework.

Fortunately, in 2015, the WHO (World Health Organization) recommended against any eponym nomenclature for new diseases, geographic or otherwise. So how will scientists achieve immortality? This answer, like the etiology of Brainerd disease, remains unclear. Since investigators linked raw or unpasteurized milk with the original outbreak, we presume an infectious agent underlies Brainerd disease. The symptoms of watery diarrhea and fecal incontinence persist up to 36 months. This creates an urgency, no pun intended, to identify a cause and potential treatment for this disorder.