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  • "Swine flu" name is wrong


    "Swine flu" name is wrong - world animal health body

    Monday April 27, 2009

    PARIS/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The virus spreading around the world should not be called "swine flu" as it contains avian and human components and no pig has so far been found ill with the disease, the world animal health body said on Monday.

    It would be more logical to call the virus "North American influenza", a name based on its geographic origin like the Spanish influenza, a 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 World Organisation for Animal Health, also known as the OIE, said in a statement.

    The European Commission said that the virus was not linked with pork.

    Robert Madelin, director-general of the Commission's health and food safety department, said in Brussels that no European Union trade restrictions on imports were planned since swine flu had nothing to do with the food chain.

    The EU only imports insignificant numbers of live pigs and pigmeat products are not seen as a disease threat.

    The World Health Organization has ruled out any risk of infection from consuming pork, saying swine flu has not been shown to be transmissible to people through eating properly handled and prepared pork, or other products derived from pigs.

    Fears of a global flu pandemic grew after 103 people were killed in Mexico and new infections were found in the United States and Canada and possible cases as far afield as Europe, Israel and New Zealand.

    The OIE, an intergovernmental organisation, warned that if the virus was shown to cause disease in animals, this could worsen the regional and global public health situation.

    Denmark, a major pork producer that exported nearly 2 million tonnes of pigmeat in 2008, said on Monday it was not putting any extra controls in place on pigs or introducing extra measures relating to pork production as a result of the flu threat.

    The Danish food and agriculture ministry also said it had not received any information from the industry suggesting pork demand had been hit by concerns arising from the virus. It said it would monitor the situation closely in coming days.

    Fears there could be a global flu pandemic which would hurt fragile world economies led to a broad-based decline in stocks, oil and other commodity markets on Monday.

    Grain and oilseed markets fells sharply on concern that the outbreak could reduce feed demand for pigs.



    !

  • #2
    Re: "Swine flu" name is wrong

    Oh silly. [Not you Sonny]

    Just call it the Mexican Flu where there were first issues with it and get over it.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: "Swine flu" name is wrong

      But is that PC?

      .
      "The next major advancement in the health of American people will be determined by what the individual is willing to do for himself"-- John Knowles, Former President of the Rockefeller Foundation

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: "Swine flu" name is wrong

        It should not be named after any geographical place, people, ethnicity, or culture. It is not fair to the people where this has originated. Besides, we do not know where it has originated yet. The facts are not in.

        Just as a reminder - any bashes or negative comments regarding any peoples, cultures, language, religion, race, sex, etc. will result in loss of posting privileges.

        This is a firm policy.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: "Swine flu" name is wrong

          Originally posted by AlaskaDenise View Post
          But is that PC?

          .
          It is OBVIOUSLY swine flu and FAO surveillance needs a LOT of work.
          More politics (no science required).

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: "Swine flu" name is wrong

            Originally posted by Sonny View Post
            "Swine flu" name is wrong - world animal health body
            Monday April 27, 2009

            PARIS/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The virus spreading around the world should not be called "swine flu" as it contains avian and human components and no pig has so far been found ill with the disease, the world animal health body said on Monday.

            It would be more logical to call the virus "North American influenza", a name based on its geographic origin like the Spanish influenza, a 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 World Organisation for Animal Health, also known as the OIE, said in a statement.

            The European Commission said that the virus was not linked with pork.

            Robert Madelin, director-general of the Commission's health and food safety department, said in Brussels that no European Union trade restrictions on imports were planned since swine flu had nothing to do with the food chain.

            The EU only imports insignificant numbers of live pigs and pigmeat products are not seen as a disease threat.

            The World Health Organization has ruled out any risk of infection from consuming pork, saying swine flu has not been shown to be transmissible to people through eating properly handled and prepared pork, or other products derived from pigs.

            Fears of a global flu pandemic grew after 103 people were killed in Mexico and new infections were found in the United States and Canada and possible cases as far afield as Europe, Israel and New Zealand.

            The OIE, an intergovernmental organisation, warned that if the virus was shown to cause disease in animals, this could worsen the regional and global public health situation.

            Denmark, a major pork producer that exported nearly 2 million tonnes of pigmeat in 2008, said on Monday it was not putting any extra controls in place on pigs or introducing extra measures relating to pork production as a result of the flu threat.

            The Danish food and agriculture ministry also said it had not received any information from the industry suggesting pork demand had been hit by concerns arising from the virus. It said it would monitor the situation closely in coming days.

            Fears there could be a global flu pandemic which would hurt fragile world economies led to a broad-based decline in stocks, oil and other commodity markets on Monday.

            Grain and oilseed markets fells sharply on concern that the outbreak could reduce feed demand for pigs.



            !
            FAO and ProMED are CLEARLY sequenced challenged. Their comments are embarassing.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: "Swine flu" name is wrong

              Originally posted by niman View Post
              FAO and ProMED are CLEARLY sequenced challenged. Their comments are embarassing.
              niman, Have any sequences been release to public domain yet?

              Mexico, large pig farms commonly vaccinate their pigs for influenza, except in an area around Mexico City where culling is used and vaccination is not allowed.

              Obviously their need to prevent "unjustified economic disruption" is great and in the past has resulted in policies and lack of action that's, given me cause for concern.

              Pork trade bans on flu unjustified
              Mon Apr 27, 2009 12:45pm ED

              By Sybille de La Hamaide

              PARIS (Reuters) - Trade bans on pork products on fears they may transmit flu are unjustified as the disease was not found in pigs and even if it was, flu cannot be transmitted by eating meat, the World Animal Health body said on Monday.

              Only proofs that the virus is spreading in pigs in zones of countries having human cases would justify trade measures on the importation of pigs from these countries, it said.

              Outbreaks of the H1N1 virus which has killed 149 people in Mexico and spread to the United States, Canada and Spain, have prompted several countries to impose bans on pig meat imports.

              China said on Monday it had banned imports of live pigs and pork products from Mexico and three U.S. states, following Russia's move on Sunday to place curbs on meat imports from North and Latin America.

              "It is important to reaffirm that pork consumption is not blamed at all in the transmission of this disease," the head of the Paris-based OIE Bernard Vallat told Reuters in an interview.

              "Otherwise it will lead consumers to change their habits and provoke unjustified economic disruption," he said, stressing that it was "unfair to ban imports just because there are cases of human flu."

              Vallat said the bans did not rely on international sanitary norms recognized by the OIE and the World Trade Organization but stressed that countries nevertheless had a right to ask for information from an infected exporting country.

              Fears there could be a global flu pandemic which would hurt fragile world economies has led to a broad-based decline in stocks, oil and other commodity markets.

              NO LINK FOUND BETWEEN PIG AND PEOPLE

              The World Health Organization has also ruled out any risk of infection from consuming pork, saying swine flu has not been shown to be transmissible to people through eating properly handled and prepared pork, or other products derived from pigs.

              The flu virus is killed by cooking temperatures of 70 degrees Celsius (160 degrees Fahrenheit), in line with general guidance for cooking pork safely, the WHO said.

              The OIE, an intergovernmental organization of 174 member states, also stressed that no pig, in Mexico or elsewhere, had been found with the disease and that there was no proof so far of a transmission from pig to human.

              "We have found no link at all, at least for the moment, between an infected animal and an infected person," Vallat said, saying that the precise origin of the virus was therefore still unknown.

              The OIE stressed that the virus should not be called "swine flu" as it also contains avian and human components.

              "It is a cocktail of pig, bird and human viruses, that's why we think it is inappropriate to call it swine flu," Vallat said.

              Instead, the organization suggested calling it "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.



              !

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: "Swine flu" name is wrong

                no pig has so far been found ill with the disease
                One could ask - which disease? ANY swine influenza or THIS influenza?

                Here we know that swine can get influenza, but can a swine influenza "escape" the vaccine just as it does for poultry influenza vaccines?

                Until they find a pig's sequence that exactly matches this swine/bird/human strain, the beginning statement might be true. However, given the nature of influenza, if any part of the combination influenza matches a known recent pig sequences, the statement could also be considered false.

                .
                "The next major advancement in the health of American people will be determined by what the individual is willing to do for himself"-- John Knowles, Former President of the Rockefeller Foundation

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: "Swine flu" name is wrong

                  Originally posted by Sonny View Post
                  niman, Have any sequences been release to public domain yet?

                  !
                  sequences from the initial case are available at the GISAID site. Look for California/4/2009

                  --camster
                  NHRC-We found the swine in 2009!

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: "Swine flu" name is wrong

                    If there is limited to no correlation between those ill and contact with sick pigs, what other factors/ correlations are the government agencies pursuing?

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: "Swine flu" name is wrong

                      What about the flu in pigs in Pangasinan, Philippines? The Manila Times and the government are reporting conflicting things, so I was curious if anyone heard anything new.
                      http://swinemap.org

                      Comment

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