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Don't give a hog a bad name, and hang it

By Wang Zhuoqiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-01 09:45

The term "swine flu" should not be used to refer to the A/H1N1 virus because pigs are not to blame for the epidemic, a senior agriculture official said yesterday.

"It is not correct to refer to it as swine flu because it really has nothing to do with pigs," Gao Hongbin, vice-minister of agriculture, told a press conference.

In addition to genetic sequences from swine influenza, the new virus also has human and avian influenza sequences.

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Also, none of the infected people has a history of contact with pigs, he said, pointing out that transmission has been human to human.

"There is no evidence so far that people who were in contact with pigs are becoming sick.

"Simply put, this is not a pig-borne virus," he said.

Medical authorities have said eating properly-cooked pork is safe; and Minister of Health Chen Zhu said he had pork for lunch yesterday.

He cited a cartoon published in China Daily during the outbreak of bird flu, which depicts the best way to fight the disease - cooking chicken with star aniseed, the main ingredient in Tamiflu, which kills the virus.

"I suggest people cook pork with star aniseed as a good prevention method."

The chorus for ridding pigs of the "bad name" follows a big reduction in sales and consumption of pork.

China, along with several other countries, has banned pork imports from many flu-affected countries.

Meanwhile, officials in Thailand, one of the world's largest meat exporters, have started referring to the disease as "Mexican flu", according to the New York Times.

An Israeli deputy health minister - an ultra-Orthodox Jew - said his country would do the same, to keep Jews from having to say the word "swine", which is considered unclean.

Janet Napolitano, the US secretary for homeland security, and Tom Vilsack, the country's agriculture secretary went out of their way at a press conference in Washington on Tuesday to refer to the virus by its scientific name - H1N1 virus.

The World Organization for Animal Health has suggested that the new disease be labeled "North American influenza," in keeping with a long tradition of naming influenza pandemics for the regions where they were first identified.