MIKE STOBBE
AP Medical Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — West Nile virus, Lyme disease, Ebola virus.
And now: 2019 nCoV?
"Just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?" said Trevor Hoppe, a researcher at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, who has studied the history of disease names.
The name, which stands for 2019 novel coronavirus, has been assigned to the virus behind the outbreak of flu-like illnesses that started in China late last year.
Scientists are still learning about the new virus, so it's hard to come up with a good name, Hoppe said. The current one is likely temporary, said Dr. Nancy Messonnier of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"Once people have a chance to catch their breath, it might be changed," Messonnier said.
Many media outlets have been skipp
