# 3100
Who knew the pig lobby was so powerful?
Actually, WHO didn’t know.
Until today, that is, when they finally relented and officially announced that from this day forward `Swine Flu’ will be called Influenza A(H1N1).
(aka “The Virus Formerly Known As Swine”).
It just sorta rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?
Influenza A(H1N1) . . . not to be confused, of course, with the other Influena A/H1N1 . . . which has been circulating as a seasonal flu since it's return in 1977.
Minor detail.
Of course, getting the public to make the switch may not be as easy. But at least at the World Health Organization `Swine’ is out.
Screenshot from today’s WHO Update.
Of course, the URL to get to this update is still:
I’m sure they are working on that.
Whether this change in nomenclature is picked up by average person on the street remains to be seen.
I wouldn’t put a lot of money on it, however.
It’s a minor point, I suppose. And I can live with it. I’d only really been upset if they’d named it after a country or region.
We’ve seen too much of that in the past.
Still, it’s sorta a shame.
`Swine Flu’ was catchy.
It lent itself to some humor, something we all could use a little more of during a crisis. On twitter, some people have been using #piggyflu to mark their A(H1N1) posts (see, I’m trying).
When I first saw that, it made me smile.
A(H1N1) sounds worse, somehow.
WHO changes flu virus strain name from swine flu
Thu Apr 30, 2009 6:33pm BST
GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation (WHO), bowing to pressure from meat industry producers and concerned governments, said on Thursday it would refer to a deadly new virus strain as influenza A (H1N1) not swine flu.
"From today, WHO will refer to the new influenza virus as 'influenza A (H1N1)'," it said in a brief announcement posted on its www.who.int/en/ website.
The new strain has infected 257 people, of whom 8 have died.
It derives from a swine influenza virus but the new strain has been found only in people. No pigs have been confirmed to be sick with it.
WHO has consistently said the disease cannot be caught from eating pork if it is prepared properly.
Where possible, I’ll attempt to use the H1N1 FLU (CDC’s version), or A(H1N1) (WHO’s version).
But I’m not going to promise not to use the term `Swine Flu’.
Not, at least, until I get a lucrative offer from the Global Pig Cartel.
