Is "swine flu" a fair term?

[Free Press Editor Joe Spear]

Discussion among readers and other groups: Newspapers calling H1N1 virus "swine flu" not fair or accurate.
Hog producers obviously don't like it for clear reasons. Unfairly and inaccurately associates their product with a deadly illness.
CDC says you cannot get it by eating pork. But CDC on its own Web site also refers to it as "H1N1 (swine flu)." Just like that, with parentheses.

Here is what CDC says about why it is called "swine flu"

"Why is this new H1N1 virus sometimes called “swine flu”?
This virus was originally referred to as “swine flu” because laboratory testing showed that many of the genes in this new virus were very similar to influenza viruses that normally occur in pigs in North America. But further study has shown that this new virus is very different from what normally circulates in North American pigs. It has two genes from flu viruses that normally circulate in pigs in Europe and Asia and avian genes and human genes. Scientists call this a “quadruple reassortant” virus."

Currrently Free Press tries to avoid using the term "Swine Flu" in headlines. However, we do not take it out of body copy from the Associated Press, which still uses the term.

What shall we do. Eliminate "swine flu" term from all copy and go with the more accurate H1N1 or maybe some kind of hybrid like "Asia-European swine flu with avian and human genes ala cart" :)

[Bob Jentges]

Discussion among readers and other groups: Newspapers calling H1N1 virus "swine flu" not fair or accurate.
Hog producers obviously don't like it for clear reasons. Unfairly and inaccurately associates their product with a deadly illness.
CDC says you cannot get it by eating pork. But CDC on its own Web site also refers to it as "H1N1 (swine flu)." Just like that, with parentheses.

Here is what CDC says about why it is called "swine flu"

"Why is this new H1N1 virus sometimes called “swine flu”?
This virus was originally referred to as “swine flu” because laboratory testing showed that many of the genes in this new virus were very similar to influenza viruses that normally occur in pigs in North America. But further study has shown that this new virus is very different from what normally circulates in North American pigs. It has two genes from flu viruses that normally circulate in pigs in Europe and Asia and avian genes and human genes. Scientists call this a “quadruple reassortant” virus."

Currrently Free Press tries to avoid using the term "Swine Flu" in headlines. However, we do not take it out of body copy from the Associated Press, which still uses the term.

What shall we do. Eliminate "swine flu" term from all copy and go with the more accurate H1N1 or maybe some kind of hybrid like "Asia-European swine flu with avian and human genes ala cart" :)

Oh the trials and tribulations of an editor of a newspaper in trying to communicate with some readers who have a shallow understanding of a well publicized issue. For those very few Free Press readers that might fall into the shallow, uninformed/missinformed catagory you have a no win situation. If you use H1N1 only they probably will not understand what you are referring to. If you use swine flu only they might think you can get it from eating pork. Using the "hybred" might cause some to think their is a brand new virus out their to worry about.

I think the virus has been around long enough now that very, very few have not heard or read that you do not get it from eating pork. So if it were me I would keep it simple and refer to it as what most people have heard it called from the onset i.e. "swine flu". As a compromise to concerned hog producers (if their are many out there) maybe using the CDC language "H1N1 (swine flu)" would meet their approval, even though that in itself does not explain to the uninformed/missinformed that you can not get it from eating pork.

Reminds me a little of the missguided idea of trying to make voting easier just to get more uninformed/missinformed voters to the polls.

[Dan Conner]

Discussion among readers and other groups: Newspapers calling H1N1 virus "swine flu" not fair or accurate.
Hog producers obviously don't like it for clear reasons. Unfairly and inaccurately associates their product with a deadly illness.
CDC says you cannot get it by eating pork. But CDC on its own Web site also refers to it as "H1N1 (swine flu)." Just like that, with parentheses.

Here is what CDC says about why it is called "swine flu"

"Why is this new H1N1 virus sometimes called “swine flu”?
This virus was originally referred to as “swine flu” because laboratory testing showed that many of the genes in this new virus were very similar to influenza viruses that normally occur in pigs in North America. But further study has shown that this new virus is very different from what normally circulates in North American pigs. It has two genes from flu viruses that normally circulate in pigs in Europe and Asia and avian genes and human genes. Scientists call this a “quadruple reassortant” virus."

Currrently Free Press tries to avoid using the term "Swine Flu" in headlines. However, we do not take it out of body copy from the Associated Press, which still uses the term.

What shall we do. Eliminate "swine flu" term from all copy and go with the more accurate H1N1 or maybe some kind of hybrid like "Asia-European swine flu with avian and human genes ala cart" :)

I think the paper's mission to adequately communicate to the public. Unfortunately, most people know of the H1N1 virus as the "Swine Flu". Consequently, I think The Free Press should use that term, if people are to know what the newspaper is referring to. If the effort to be "politically correct" obscures accurate communication much of the news will be lost on the pulbic.

[Reporter Dan Linehan]

I agree with Dan Conner.

The word "influenza" is derived from an Italian word for "influence" because they thought the flu was caused by the influence of the stars. It's obviously untrue, but we keep using the word because people know what it means.

H1N1 is a scientific name. It helps scientists describe the virus. Those letters and numbers mean nothing to the rest of us.