Politically-correct Reference to Swine Flu Pathogen

Communication is a key element in management of an outbreak / epidemic / pandemic.  The first wave of communication (on the weekend) seemed to me to be pushing the public panic button a bit but it seemed to have stabilized yesterday (at least on TV reports) into more reporting and education.  Today, there is concern raised by the pork producers and the Secretary of Agriculture – that we call the illness by it’s proper viral designation – H1N1.  I maintain that we should refer to it as Influenza A – H1N1 – nicknamed swine flu virus.  But, we need some simple education in virology before the public lets go of the now familiar, swine flu.  Especially, since we already have a 1970’s reference to that name. 

Hardly anyone in the general public knew what the acronym- SARS- meant in 2003 but it became the common reference to the illness - not “civat cat flu” or “Canadian flu” or “North American Flu”.  With Avian flu – we had to reinforce that transmission is not related to eating chicken and poultry.  We have our work cut out for us – communicating the facts and educating the public.  This is an opportune time to teach cough and sneeze etiquette.  (Make it easy and fun with the Nanobugs Training Shirt - in the store on www.nanobugs.com)

This entry was posted on April 29th, 2009 at 12:00 am. RSS | Back to Blog Homepage.

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