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The flu formerly known as swine

Posted at 3:02 PM on April 30, 2009 by Than Tibbetts (6 Comments)
Filed under: Health, Media, Politics

What's in a name?

We've moved beyond the "panic" stories to the politically tinged debates over what to call that nasty virus traversing the globe.

World Health Organization officials today begin referring to the virus formerly known as swine flu as "influenza A (H1N1)." (Though the WHO has shown it isn't above industry meddling.)

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has this note posted on one of its flu pages:

This is a rapidly evolving situation and current guidance and other web content may contain variations in how this new H1N1 virus of swine origin is referred to.
Over the coming days and weeks, these inconsistencies will be addressed, but in the interests of meeting the agency's response goals, all guidance will remain posted and new guidance will continue to be issued.

But they might have trouble switching things up as they've been giving out cdc.gov/swineflu as the site for information.

The City of St. Paul just sent out a press release titled "Information available on H1N1 (swine) flu threat."

Then there's the World Organization for Animal Health which, so far, has the most novel approach:

No current information in influenza like animal disease in Mexico or the USA could support a link between human cases and possible animal cases including swine. The virus has not been isolated in animals to date. Therefore, it is not justified to name this disease swine influenza. In the past, many human influenza epidemics with animal origin have been named using geographic name, eg Spanish influenza or Asiatic influenza, thus it would be logical to call this disease "North-American influenza".

MPR received a letter from a pork producer representative that laid bare the industry's objections to calling it swine flu:

[Please] reference the present flu virus by its appropriate name, the 2009 N1H1 flu.
Referring to the present flu virus as "swine flu" is not only damaging to MN pork producers, but demonstrates an uneducated, reckless approach, which is undoubtedly uncharacteristic of MN Public Radio.

The negative connotations to swine, unfairly made and scientifically unsupported, affect consumer confidence and therefore have a significant negative impact on pork production.

There is scientific evidence that the virus is genetically connected to pigs, but you cannot get the flu by eating pork products. It's not like we're not calling it bacon flu, though. To be fair, when your industry is under sudden and near total onslaught, you have a right to be defensive.

When it comes down to it, the media, at least for now, will likely stick with swine flu.

Today on Talk of the Nation, host Neal Conan was asked by a caller why he was not using the term "correct" term of H1N1. Said Conan, "We call it swine flu because that's what people call it."

So... what do you call it?

Comments (6)

Since the H1N1 refers to the specific influenza type (there are 16 possible H's and 9 possible N variations), its just more appropriate to call it its actual name instead of the animal which part, yes only part, of it came from.

Also, from a public health perspective, its important that people understand that the flu shots they receive each year are different strains (hence why some years are effective and others not) and that their flu shot this year is ineffective against this strain and will not protect them.

Posted by Sam | April 30, 2009 5:05 PM

I like NAFTA flu myself, since the industrial pork farms that moved south of the border are cesspits of disease.

Posted by Joanna | April 30, 2009 10:46 PM

Personally, I prefer 'Swine Flu'.

Despite the fact that you cannot obtain the flu from pigs themselves, it is the pork industry that has genetically modified pigs, pumped them full of antibiotics and other steroids, and crammed them into overcrowded sheds -both in America and Mexico. These conditions are universal and are not only linked to the development of new 'super bacterias' but they are also massively contributing to pollution, global warming, and land deprivation.

If we had any common sense, we would stop eating pork raised on factory farms altogether before we develop an even more powerful disease that we can't stop.

The Humane Society of the United States, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Farm Sanctuary, and other animal advocacy groups have been producing the evidence forewarning disasters such as this and pushing for laws that would inhibit such disasters from happening... but for some reason, the pork industry had closed their minds and ears to these issues.

This is a good warning of what is to come if we don't adopt policies like Prop. 2 in California, and realize the disaster that we can cause.

Posted by Jared | May 1, 2009 3:14 AM

Thank you for shifting the MPR label to H1N1. Please urge NPR to do the same. After more than a year of losses in hog production we were beginning to see financial daylight. Since the "swine flu" outbreak, hog market value has declined $16.60 per pig (13%). We are again losing money, due to the mis-labeling.

Posted by Will | May 1, 2009 8:59 AM

Simply calling it H1N1 is bad, in my opinion, since there are hundreds of individual viruses in that subtype. They're common enough to cause 30-50% of seasonal flu cases. Similarly, there are lots of "swine flus". "2009 H1N1 flu" or "2009 H1N1 swine flu" seem to be the best options at the moment, in my opinion.

Posted by mulad | May 1, 2009 4:00 PM

you can't make a silk purse from a sows ear. swine flu it is!

Posted by leonard | May 4, 2009 4:02 AM

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