hobglobin on Apr 29 2009, 06:27 PM said:

please tell me it was not you who came up with this idea. this gets beyond the limit of my tolerance

"The outbreak of swine flu should be renamed "Mexican" influenza in deference to Muslim and Jewish sensitivities over pork, said an Israeli health official Monday."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...kHrXwwD97QROAG0

toejam on Apr 29 2009, 11:25 PM said:

Sorry I didn't wanted to insult you or Mexico. But I guess the flus are named after the place where they are detected first. "Spanish flu" is a common known epidemic. I read the "Mexican flu" in the newspaper today.

i completly understand that it could be called "Mexican flu" since that is where it is most widely spread and there are previous histories like the Spanish flu you mention. however the quote i read and put in the previous post seems very offensive imho. i know it wasn't you, you just happened to say something similar but with a completely different intention.
anyway, i hope it doesn't get even worse. see you around.

toejam on Apr 29 2009, 05:25 PM said:

hey tj...c'mon...sorry about this..... we've got confirmed cases too (tho mild ones), read this ...let's hope the doomcasters are not right about this becoming a pandemic...

toejam on Apr 30 2009, 06:25 AM said:

Hobglobin is also right. I disagree the reason quoted in the paper TJ pointed at but when we look at the last 3 notable pandemics then they have been named after the places.

May be only after it becomes a full-blown pandemic will it be renamed. Does anyone know how the pandemics are named?

BTW, has this virus yet been isolated from a pig?

hi guys,
maybe i put things in a wrong order. hobs is right. and it makes sense that the pandemics are named after the place where they are most devastating.

the WHO has called for phase 5

http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_04_29/en/index.html

some cases reported even in Germany (3), Canada (13) and Austria (1)

i don't know if the virus has been isolated from a pig or the samples that are under research are taken only from diseased people. i haven't found scientific-based information about it yet.

Here is a nice blog about the naming of the pandemic.
I'd vote for "North-American Flu" , but Pigenza is also not bad.
In some countries the name swine flu is unwanted because the swine producers worry about the sales . A even more lousy reason.

Anyway as far as I understand, it's a human disease, the human influenza, and the viruses changed their antigen-composition via antigenic shift from bird flu and swine flu making a new strain. Pigs were only the mixing pot for this exchange of DNA.

hobglobin on Apr 30 2009, 10:53 AM said:

talking about swine producers: ~ 300,000 pigs slaughtered in Egypt (a country that hasn't reported any swine flu cases yet...)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30480507/

more news on the influenza.... now there's a videogame which consists on killing pigs with a huge syringe, if anyone's interested this is the link:

http://www.swinefighter.com/

at least Mexicans keep up the good mood:

Mexican $20 pesos bill



chicken: so you got it too?
pig: so they say



three little pigs



improvised face mask



the guilty of it all

toejam on Apr 30 2009, 04:51 AM said:

It's official...the WHO gives it a more kindergartenname ...to appease everyone.....and we've got 27 confirmed cases as of this hour.....