Repeat after me: "Pandemic H1N1 09." This is the new name of three international organizations including the World Health Organization , chose to end the chronic confusion about what to call the influenza pandemic and the virus that causes it. But some scientists are only satisfied half the solution.
from the outset, health organizations and scientists have used a variety of monikers to describe the pathogen. "Mexican flu" and "swine flu" were considered controversial because they could stigmatize Mexicans or cause irrational fears or pigs pork. So a plethora of alternatives was successful. WHO has taken with "influenza a (H1N1)," a term criticized by scientists as ambiguous because there is an a (H1N1) strain circulating seasonal well. others called anything of the pathogen from "swine flu virus" and "novel H1N1 flu" to "influenza A (H1N1) v," in which "v" means "variant".
Now, WHO, the Organization of United Nations (FAO) and Food and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) have chosen to use "pandemic (H1N1) 09 "of the disease. for example:" hundreds of new cases of pandemic (H1N1) 09 were reported. " And "Pandemic (H1N1) 09". In the agent for the scientific, genomic databases, and so, researchers can use, existing complex naming scheme for individual viral isolates, but add a "v" to indicate it is the pandemic strain, as in "A / California / 7/09 (H1N1) v. "
The new nomenclature was reported yesterday on ProMED, a reporting system for outbreaks online, where he had arrived through a" personal communication "from someone within WHO says Diseases ProMED viral Moderator Craig Pringle. in a telephone press conference today, the head of the influenza WHO Keiji Fukuda said the three agencies have chosen the new name after a virtual consultation with experts of virus it several weeks ago, they do not issue a formal statement to introduce the name, however;.. WHO just started using it in its status updates on the web July 1st OIE and FAO have yet to introduce their websites, where various other names are in use.
virologist Ron Fouchier of Erasmus medical center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, says the name is much better than previous WHO choice because . it is not ambiguous but it is difficult to use in literature searches online, it says: individual words "H1N1", "pandemic" and "09" are bound to give rise to too many shots, but combination of them too little. Fouchier is always rooting for the "Mexican flu", which is easier to use in research, catchier, and according to tradition, as pandemics of the 20th century were called in Spanish, Asian, and Hong Kong influenza.
Pringle said he found the use of the "v" for "variant" in the names of individual isolates "illogical", because other "variants" of H1N1 may exist or could appear in the future. But Promed adopt the new terminology anyway, he says, because he wants to promote consistency. And with tens of thousands of subscribers around the world, its just might tip the balance in favor of the new name.
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