Israel renames unkosher swine flu (they call it Mexiflu)

BBC ^ | Page last updated at 16:36 GMT, Monday, 27 April 2009 17:36 UK

[Perdogg]

Israeli Health Minister Yakov Litzman has been updating a nervous public on the swine flu epidemic - and he started by renaming it for religious reasons.

"We will call it Mexican flu. We won't call it swine flu," said Mr Litzman, who belongs to the ultra-religious United Torah Judaism party.

[justiceseeker93]

I don't care if the term “Mexican flu” stigmatizes Mexico, but I see no reason why any Jew can't use the term “swine flu,” if the causative virus originally was confined to the pig population. The Jewish ban on eating pork is unrelated to the airborne transmission of the virus from swine to man, so if a Jew contracts the illness, it hardly implies that he is not observing the Jewish dietary laws. I presume, therefore, that the renaming of the virus by Dr. Litzman was nothing more than an instance of political correctness, Israeli style.

[SJackson]

The US is changing the name too, swine flu hurts pork sales. Mexiflu might hurt future travel, I guess we don't care, so we're calling it H1N1. That'll never catch on.

[sheik yerbouty]

He must have grown up in overly close pproximity to TROP..

[AdmSmith]

Natural infections by influenza type A is in humans, swine, horses, seals, mink, whales and birds (avian).

It is normally named from where it is taken and the type. The present virus has the following 8 components in its RNA, with origin:

PB2 Avian North America
PB1 Human circa 1993
PA Swine Eurasia +/-
HA Swine North America
NP Swine Eurasia +/-
NA Swine Eurasia
MP Swine Eurasia
NS Swine Eurasia +/-

It is the hemagglutinin (HA or in this case H sub-type 1 = H1) that binds to the cell and causes the virus to enter, this is from Swine hence the name Swine influenza. However, naming influenza virus is not easy as the other components should be considered as well, especially the Neuraminidase (NA or in this case N sub-type 1 = N1) that releases the virus from the infected cell and causes it to spread. Then there are differences among the sub-types i.e. a H1 is not the same as another H1.

Traditionally the name is reflected by the species and the geographical region from where the sample is taken and identified. This would give the name Influenza A Virus A/California(04/99(H1N1) as written here http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genomes/FLU/SwineFlu.html

However, the nick name could be anything like Spanish flu, Asian flu or, in this case, Swine flu.

[21twelve]

Thanks AS for the detailed and knowledgeable information regarding this beastie's makeup. I'll stick with calling it the Mexican Flu.

[LibertyRocks]

Thanks for the ping(s), 21twelve, and for the excellent info. AS! :)

Mexiflu works for me, although I’m still partial to “Chimera Flu” LOL — especially now with 8 different “parts” to work with! ;)

Polarik — thought you’d like to see AdmSmith’s post at #25 if you haven’t seen it before. [Sorry to ping you so much on this part of things, Polarik — Why must there be so many ways to explain exactly what this is! LOL Is it an attempt for some to explain it easier — it seems some of the more complicated sounding info. is easier for me to understand (WEIRD)? Everytime, I think I’ve got a handle on understanding this, I see a different explanation! ;) ]

[LibertyRocks]

NO, you aren’t. AFAIC, it’s definitely a possibility.

[AdmSmith]

Dr. Henry Niman Talks Swine Flu (26 min Video)

http://www.wpxi.com/video/19313969/index.html

[LibertyRocks]

Thanks! Will watch that in the morning! :)

[forkinsocket]

‘Swine flu’ name won’t be changed in Israel

NEW YORK (JTA) — The swine flu will not take any new names in Israel despite the unease of a health official from a fervently religious party.

[forkinsocket]

http://jta.org/news/article/2009/04/29/1004758/swine-flu-name-wont-be-changed-in-israel