WHO GIVES "SWINE FLU" A NEW NAME

The swine-flu virus gets a new name after WHO reviewed the virus strain originating from swines and other species. The earlier name was debated as a misnomer that led to speculations about the danger of contacting pigs and consuming pork products, or for that matter about mass culling and depopulating swine herds in many countries. The virus has not been isolated in any swine herds till date and the pig population is free from it. The strain possess only some characteristics of the swine strain and pork products are safe for human consumption. Pigs only form a common "mixing vessel" for different strains of the influenza virus. Human, avian or swine strains of the influenza virus can infect pigs and with some reassortment within themselves when affecting the same host cell becomes a new strain all by itself having unique features. This leads to what they call the 'antigenic shift' theory of new strain evolution. This is a continous but slow process of evolution and can create any combination of features or characteristics. This makes influenza viruses so dangerous when they make new strains that have totally new characteristics specially when new human strains are created against which we donot have any immunity. This is the underlying cause of the world-wide FLU SCARE. Flu strains are also called by the country of origin, and the recent strain may as well be called as the 'Mexico virus strain', not without given Mexico a bad name. Mexicans protest that the virus came from USA, when Americans have already held 'The Bad Neighbours' (Mexicans) responsible. There has also been talk of Canada being the country for the virus's origin.

So much about the political mudslingings. WHO calls it now the Influenza A (H1N1) virus

Now you might ask who is WHO??