World animal health body says swine flu wrong name

[bananas]

Source: Reuters

PARIS, April 27 (Reuters) - The flu virus spreading around the world should not be called "swine flu" as it also contains avian and human components and no pig was found ill with the disease so far, the World Animal Health body said on Monday.

A more logical name for it would be "North-American influenza", a name based on its geographic origin just like the Spanish influenza, another human flu pandemic with animal origin that killed more than 50 million people in 1918-1919.

"The virus has not been isolated in animals to date. Therefore it is not justified to name this disease swine influenza," the Paris-based organisation said in a statement.

...

The OIE warned that if the virus was shown to cause disease in animals virus circulation could worsen the regional and global situation for public health.

...

Read more: http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINLR47878620090427

[stray cat]

1. They are absolutely right

[saigon68]

18. La Grippe Porcine

Sarkozy s'inquiète de la grippe porcine

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x93jqk_sarkozy-et-la-grippe-porcine_news

[xchrom]

2. recommend

[tomm2thumbs]

3. Call it 'Trifle Flu' Cause it has a trifle of this, and a trifle of that....

or not

[marshall]

4. What's in a name?

It could be called bullfrog flu and it would still be the same thing.

Of course the next step is PETA speaking out about how unfair the name is is to our porcine friends.

[nyc 4 Biden]

9. I think PETA may hope that people will..

stop eating pork products slightly because of this nomenclature. Unfortunately we'll probably just eat beef instead.

[damntexdem]

30. Oh, what the hell: call it the PETA Flu!

And do some animal research to combat it.

[nyc 4 Biden]

36. Any publicity is good publicity I guess.

[soothsayer]

5. call it a manmade, weaponized flu cuz it sure could be.

perhaps it is targeted to hispanics the way AIDS seems to be designed for blacks and SARS seems to be for asians. we'll see if any particular population gets it worse than others.

[nyc 4 Biden]

10. And acne is for teenagers.

[Vanje]

17. ,...and alzheimers is for the elderly

and diaper-rash targets the very very young.

[certainot]

12. sure took the torture story down a bit

eh

[Odin2005]

13. Woo Woo! Woo Woo!!!

[OnyxCollie]

15. Where would you have gotten an idea like that?

Perhaps here:

And advanced forms of biological warfare
that can “target” specific genotypes may
transform biological warfare from the realm
of terror to a politically useful tool.

-Project for the New American Century, Rebuilding America's Defenses, p. 60.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/9651/Rebuilding-Americas-Defenses-PNAC

[glitch]

23. Sssh - conspiracy theories can never be mentioned, even when the conspiracists themselves publish

their proposals on their own websites in their own pdfs. It was just on the internet anyway, you can't believe anything you find on it.
(I don't like the sarcasm tag so I am going with this > :crazy:)

[Dreamer Tatum]

27. Ignorant post of day award

Well done.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

31. Call it fairy dust because maybe it was made by pixies.

You can't prove it wasn't.

[crimsonblue]

33. give me a freaking break

AIDS is designed for black people? Would you like to put on your tinfoil hat and be any more ignorant? The scientific community has identified jungle regions of Africa as the likely source of AIDS, and it likely originated in monkeys before crossing over into humans, probably via a bite. To say that AIDS, SARS, and swine flu were engineered to inflict certain groups is conspiratorial and idiotic. You should be ashamed of yourself.

[cboy4]

35. Oh boy

[Dappleganger]

6. Call it the Collins Flu

Since she's the one who's bragging about removing pandemic funding from the stimulus package:

http://collins.senate.gov/public/continue.cfm?FuseAction=PressRoom.Articles&ContentRecord_id=46d6e846-802a-23ad-4ccd-8f37bc42d004&Region_id=&Issue_id=&CFId=960&CFToken=38005608

[SpiralHawk]

16. In that case, I call it the Republicon Flu

companion plague to the Republicon Depression.

[glitch]

24. Yeah, but that takes us back to Swine Flu. nt

[SpiralHawk]

26. "Oink, oink"

- Da Oinkster Republicons

[Downwinder]

22. Call it Smithfield flu.

In Mexico they are blaming a Smithfield subsidiary called Granjas Carrol.

[dipsydoodle]

7. Even Spanish Flu was a misnomer

That name was derived from the fact that Spanish newspapers were not being governed by censor at the time and it was there that it was first reported.

Name: The virus was at the time called the "Spanish Flu" by some. The label came from reports in the medical press that as many 8 million Spanish were killed by it in May 1918. The name is a misnomer, however, it's now thought that the 1918 flu originated in the United States.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4946718

Though dubbed the Spanish flu, after millions of early deaths in Spain, the geographic origin of the disease remains unknown. Some hypothesize that it may have been circulating around the world for a few years before developing into a pandemic in 1918. The first confirmed outbreak in the United States, if not the world, was at an army base in northeastern Kansas on March 11, 1918. Just hours after the first soldier reported sick, dozens more began pouring into the infirmary. By the end of the day, hundreds of soldiers had fallen ill. Within a week 500 had come down with the fever.

The flu quickly spread across the country, where 2 million troops were mobilizing for the war in Europe. The soldiers carried the flu with them when they shipped out, introducing the virus to France, England, Germany and Spain. “King George’s Grand Fleet could not even put to sea for three weeks in May, with 10,313 men sick,” reports Gina Kolata in her book Flu. The virus jumped to China, India, Japan and the rest of Asia. By summer it seemed to have played itself out.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/worst_case_scenarios/4219884.html?series=31

[crimsonblue]

34. I didn't know that the Spanish flu was first identified in Kansas...

That's extremely interesting! I heard on NPR today that Kansas has its first two reported cases of swine flu. Apparently, a Kansas businessman traveled to Mexico in the past few weeks, contracted the disease, and transferred it to his wife here in Kansas. Kansas, leading the way in pandemic flu since 1918!

[dipsydoodle]

37. I known that for some years.

It's horrifying the speed at which it spread. Just one of those it was Kansas. Hopefully this one will fizzle out soon.

Evrything's up to date in Kansas City... tra la :)

[hedgehog]

39. I think it got associated with Spain because the governments

involved in WWI censored any mention of deaths among their own people as long as possible.

[OnyxCollie]

8. Oh, really?

I would have never guessed.

Baxter: Product contained live bird flu virus
http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/02/27/8560781.html

Reassortment's a bitch.

[slackmaster]

11. Who will stand up against the slander of our beloved swine?

[No Elephants]

14. Way to zone in on the most important issue World Animal Health. The most correct name is what's

important here.

[The Backlash Cometh]

19. North-American Influenza.

That's going to confuse a lot of Americans who don't know that Mexico is in North America.

Has anyone yet discussed whether this event has anything to do with the cartel wars?

[glitch]

25. How about Nafta Flu?

what could it have to do with cartel wars?

[Javaman]

20. I'm surprised some marketing firm hasn't figured out a way to rename the flu

with a products name. the coke flu, the mcdonalds flu, the ford flu, the jet blue flu, etc.

[LeftHander]

21. This one spreads by excessive media reporting....

Rovian Flu

[No Elephants]

28. Spain is a country, not a continent. Wonder why they did not suggest the Mexican flu?

[Gen. Jack D. Ripper]

29. Who gives a fuck what it's called?

God...

[Varner911]

32. Doesn't matter what its name is...it is the unnameable killer...scary stuff.

[and-justice-for-all]

38. Not to be a conspiracy nut or anything...

but not to long ago, wasn't there some 'items' that were missing from the Armies Bio-weapons lab in Maryland?

[hedgehog]

40. Pffft! What do they know. They call hoof and mouth disease

foot and mouth !

[Festivito]

41. Fort Dietrich's Missing Vials Part Two? FDMV-II /nt