Why is H1N1 called 'swine flu'?

Answer 1

They called it Swine Flu at first because laboratory testing showed that the first form of this virus was originally the same or similar to a viral influenza disease of North American pigs that was not zoonotic (did not move from other animal species to people). It was also a Type A H1N1 virus. But further study has shown that this new pandemic virus is very different from what normally circulated in North American pigs. It contains genetic material from more than one type of swine influenza (European, Asian, and North American), and also genetic material from Avian (bird) flu, and human influenza. That makes it a new kind of flu that people have not had exposure to prior to this, so the potential was for a pandemic (which is what has happened).

The proper name is influenza Type A-H1N1/09. See the related question below for more specific scientific names and other names this virus is called around the world today.

They changed the name because people wouldn't eat pork meat because they thought they were going to catch the disease by eating it and the pork producers didn't want this stigma placed on their product and it made it confusing and hard to differentiate from the prior types of "Swine Flu" when talking or writing about it. You can not get the pandemic A-H1N1/09 swine flu or other influenza types from eating pork. The influenza viruses are killed by normal cooking temperatures of 167-212°F (75-100°C).

Answer 2

The virus that causes swine flu started in pigs and then mutated so that it was able to be passed from the pigs to humans and now it passes from human to human. Pigs are also known as swine.

It started at a pig farm in the US (probably Texas), spread into Mexico when some pigs got sick, then the pig handlers got sick and started spreading human to human. In its human virus form, it first got into the US in California and then Texas when a sick 23 month old from Mexico got flown into Houston, and the spread went on from there.

It has now been more appropriately renamed as Influenza A, Novel H1N1 by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Update, From a July 7, 2009 Press Briefing by World Health Organization's Dr. Fukuda, he says WHO has decided to call Influenza A, Novel H1N1: Pandemic H1N1/09 Virus (although, as of early August 2009 this is not yet being consistently used).

As you know, since the emergence of the pandemic, the name of the virus has

been a difficult issue for many reasons. In the past, we have seen how the naming of viruses by location can stigmatize those locations and we have also seen in this and in other episodes where associating the virus with one animal species or another, can really cause both anxiety and then fears about food and in this particular instance, about pork. So, in recognition of those issues, what WHO, FAO and OIE did, actually some weeks ago, was to get together several of the experts who work in these organizations and with many of the laboratory experts who work with these organizations, and then we had a meeting - a virtual meeting - in which these issues were discussed and one of the things that we wanted to do was make sure that any naming of the virus was scientifically accurate but also would avoid any kind of adverse reactions to the name or to minimize those as much as possible. Based on those discussions, what the experts decided,calling this a pandemic H1N1/09 virus was a good way to distinguish it from the current seasonal H1N1 viruses and to do so, in a way which was scientifically sound, but also would avoid some of the stigma associated with other options.

For more information about the swine flu see related questions below.

Answer 3

The type of swine flu that pigs get is sometimes called pig flu. Swine and pigs are just different words for the same animal, the hog.

The types of swine flu that people get are called swine flu because the virus was first isolated and identified in swine (around 1930) before it mutated to the type that people can sometimes, but rarely, get. They are not usually called pig flu.

The specific strain of swine flu that is better known as A-H1N1/09 or the Pandemic 2009 swine flu (see related question below for more names it is called), is not called pig flu in most places in the world because it is more often a virus among people than pigs, even though it originated in pigs. People have apparently given it back to some pigs, but that, too is a rare event at present.

Answer 4

Why change from Swine Flu?:

From a July 7, 2009 Press Briefing by World Health Organization's Dr. Fukuda, who said that WHO has decided to call Influenza A, Novel H1N1: Pandemic H1N1/09 Virus (although, as of early August 2009 this name is not yet being consistently used).

"As you know, since the emergence of the pandemic, the name of the virus has been a difficult issue for many reasons. In the past, we have seen how the naming of viruses by location can stigmatize those locations and we have also seen in this and in other episodes where associating the virus with one animal species or another, can really cause both anxiety and then fears about food and in this particular instance, about pork.

So, in recognition of those issues, what WHO, FAO and OIE did, actually some weeks ago, was to get together several of the experts who work in these organizations and with many of the laboratory experts who work with these organizations, and then we had a meeting - a virtual meeting - in which these issues were discussed and one of the things that we wanted to do was make sure that any naming of the virus was scientifically accurate but also would avoid any kind of adverse reactions to the name or to minimize those as much as possible. Based on those discussions, what the experts decided, calling this a pandemic H1N1/09 virus was a good way to distinguish it from the current seasonal H1N1 viruses and to do so, in a way which was scientifically sound, but also would avoid some of the stigma associated with other options."

Answer 5

Used to be only swine (pigs) could get it. Then by some mutations, the disease became contagious to humans.

Answer 6

because swine is another name for pirate. It is acting like a pirate. By what_is_proudness@Yahoo.com

Answer 7

Because it hates you

Answer 8

Swine is the proper name for pigs.