The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that doctors, scientists and health experts should follow best practices before giving names to new human infectious diseases. According to the specialized agency of the United Nations (UN), it could eliminate most of the sides of a new disease.

On micro-blogging website Twitter, the WHO tweeted that the use of disease name like ‘swine flu’ has treated some communities unfairly. According to the organization, before naming a disease, the experts must follow some essential guidelines so that negative effects of the disease could be reduced. The negative effects can harm a nation, a community and economics, as per WHO.

In a statement, WHO said that its new naming practices will not replace the International Classification of Diseases system, but provide guidelines so that it could give correct detail about the disease.

The WHO, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, said, “For instance, if the pathogen that causes the disease is known, it should be part of the disease name. More specific descriptive terms can be added when robust information is available on how the disease manifests, who it affects, its severity”.

According to the organization, before naming a disease, experts must follow guidelines, including disease names should consist of generic descriptive terms that are based on the symptoms that the disease causes.

As per critics, scrutiny on diseases' names could do little to save lives. Bacteriologist Professor Hugh Pennington said that guidelines to name a disease will not save any life. There will not any permanent benefit of WHO’s new guidelines.

The WHO is a political organization which is burned as it has not acted fast enough on Ebola, Pennington added. According to Dr Keiji Fukuda, Assistant Director-General for Health Security at the WHO, it could be strange for some people, but remaining careful while naming a disease do matter to people who are affected with a new disease.