The Back Alley Archives

“This is not a food-borne illness, virus. It is not correct to refer to it as swine flu because really that’s not what this is about,”Mr Vilsack said.
.
There is growing sentiment in the farm sector to call it the North American virus. The Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health also objected to the name, saying the virus contains avian and human components and no pig so far has been found ill with the disease.
.
At the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there was also talk of dropping the “swine” from swine flu, which CDC acting director Richard Besser said was leading to the misapprehension that people can catch the disease from pork.
.
“That’s not helpful to pork producers. That’s not helpful to people who eat pork. It’s not helpful to people who are wondering, how can they get this infection,”Mr Besser told a briefing.
.
The European Commission also said it would call swine flu the “novel flu virus” to minimise damage to the farm industry.
.
Israel, where there are two confirmed cases of swine flu, has protested over the name for an entirely different reason. Jewish dietary laws forbid eating pork.
.
Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman, a member of an ultra-religious party, said “swine flu “ should not be used as it contains the name of the animal banned by Judaism.
.
Instead, he said, authorities should call the virus sweeping the globe “Mexican flu”, which drew howls of protests from the Mexican ambassador to Israel.
.
Israel’s neighbour Eygpt has begun slaughtering 300,000 pigs in the country as a precautionary measure against the possible spread of the swine flu.
.
A TRAVEL BAN?
.
Meanwhile, Malaysia took the extraordinary step of asking WHO to endorse a ban on all travel out of Mexico.
.
“We have spoken to WHO officials and asked them to stop those in Mexico leaving the country,” said Malaysian Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai.
.
The Malaysian request came despite WHO saying there was no need for any “restriction of regular travel or closure of borders”.
.
France also joined the chorus, saying it would ask the European Union to suspend flights to Mexico at a meeting today of European health ministers in Luxembourg.
.
Argentina and Cuba havealready been barring flights toand from Mexico.
AGENCIES


GOVERNMENTS around the world yesterday called for bans on pork imports as well as travel to stem the spread of the swine flu virus.
.
This despite declarations from the World Health Organization (WHO) that the virus, which yesterday claimed its first life outside Mexico, cannot be transmitted by eating pork, and that closing borders would be ineffective in stopping the bug.
.
As United States health officials confirmed that a 23-month-old Mexican child had died in Texas after crossing the border for treatment, the WHO called for an emergency meeting to consider its pandemic alert level, which now stands at Phase 4, two levels below the threshold for a full pandemic outbreak.
.
No swine in flu
.
At least 10 countries, including China, Russia, Ukraine, Ecuador, South Korea, Indonesia and the Philippines, have banned or restricted imports of pork products from North America.
.
But Ms Janet Napolitano, the US Homeland Security Secretary, and Mr Tom Vilsack, the Agriculture Secretary, took pains to repeatedly refer to the flu as the H1N1 virus at a news briefing.
.
“This is not a food-borne illness, virus. It is not correct to refer to it as swine flu because really that’s not what this is about,”Mr Vilsack said.
.
There is growing sentiment in the farm sector to call it the North American virus. The Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health also objected to the name, saying the virus contains avian and human components and no pig so far has been found ill with the disease.
.
At the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there was also talk of dropping the “swine” from swine flu, which CDC acting director Richard Besser said was leading to the misapprehension that people can catch the disease from pork.