New Name, Same Flu

From President Obama on down, U.S. government officials are uniformly calling the swine flu by the uncatchy, but technically proper, H1N1.

It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, or off the keyboard like swine flu.

Reasons for the shifting name are probably due to the fact that Muslims and Jews do not eat pork and consider it unclean, adding insult to injury for anyone afflicted with swine flu, although as of yesterday, the World Health Organization said they had no plans to change the name.

A high-level CDC official told NPR's Brenda Wilson today that if someone is diagnosed with swine flu in a country dominated by one of these religions, it implies a link with something they are not comfortable with. People in public health circles also have concerns about calling a disease by the name of a country, such as Mexico, which is the one most associated with the outbreak.

NPR's Brian Naylor reports today that DHS Secretary Napolitano and Rear Admiral Anne Schuchat, Interim Deputy Director for CDC, insisted on calling it H1N1 at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing today.

And newly-confirmed HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius issued a statement today, announcing a briefing she would hold to update everyone on the flu, using the H1N1 moniker.

Trend alert: We are seeing a transition the scientific name for the virus.