豬流感的命名——一個有趣的話題
香港消息-如何稱呼在世界各地拉響警報的新型流感？這在全世界已經(jīng)帶上政治，經(jīng)濟(jì)和外交的意味了。
豬肉生產(chǎn)商們質(zhì)疑“豬流感”這一名詞是否適當(dāng)。他們認(rèn)為這種新型的病毒還沒有被從在墨西哥或者其它地方的豬中分離出來。而設(shè)在亞特蘭大的疾病預(yù)防和控制中心的認(rèn)為，這種新型病毒雖然絕大部分是由豬流感病毒的基因序列組成，卻也有人類流感和禽流感的基因序列在內(nèi)。
作為世界上的肉類出口國之一，泰國的政府官員們已經(jīng)開始以“墨西哥流感”來稱呼這種疾病。一位以色列衛(wèi)生部副部長，極端正統(tǒng)派的*人說，他們的國家會如法炮制，不讓*人說“豬”字。然而，他的呼吁似乎基本上被忽略了。
星期二國土安全部秘書長珍妮·納波利塔諾和農(nóng)業(yè)部長湯姆·維爾薩克在華盛頓的新聞發(fā)布會上用學(xué)名稱呼這種病毒為“H1N1病毒”。
維爾薩克說，這不是一種食源性疾病或病毒。稱其為豬流感是不正確的，因為這本來不是這樣子的。
負(fù)責(zé)世界范圍內(nèi)獸醫(yī)衛(wèi)生問題的世界動物衛(wèi)生組織在星期一發(fā)表了一份聲明稱，這種新型的病毒應(yīng)該稱為“北美流感”，以保持流行感冒一貫以首次發(fā)現(xiàn)地命名的傳統(tǒng)，包括1918-1919的西班牙流感，1957-1958的亞洲流感和1967-1968的香港流感。
這場爭論很可能還會持續(xù)，因為科學(xué)家和衛(wèi)生部門仍試圖追蹤這種疾病。雖然所有的跡象都集中地指向墨西哥，病毒的遺傳物質(zhì)卻包含部分有歐亞起源的豬流感病毒。而且，流感病毒往往來自亞洲。
星期二中國國家總理溫家寶呼吁加強(qiáng)措施以預(yù)防和控制任何可能的豬流感病例在該國出現(xiàn)。
許多醫(yī)學(xué)歷史學(xué)家認(rèn)為，亞洲和香港流感最初在毗鄰香港的中國東南部爆發(fā)，那里人口密度非常高，在農(nóng)村地區(qū)居住在靠近豬和雞的人們可能傳染上動物的病毒。一些歷史學(xué)家還認(rèn)為，西班牙病毒同樣發(fā)端于中國東南部。
本周墨西哥駐北京的大使喬治·瓜哈爾多直言不諱地說，這種病毒并非發(fā)源于墨西哥。他在星期二的電話采訪中說，疾病被感染者從“亞歐大陸”某地帶至他的國家。
喬治·瓜哈爾多在電話采訪中說，他的政府接到美國和加拿大專家的消息說，病毒的基因序列顯示，它來自亞歐大陸。
然而，亞洲的流感專家說，這種新型病毒很可能并沒有在亞洲從動物傳染到人。
“如果是這樣的話，你會看到亞洲有很多傳染案例了?！比霭拖！つλ_利亞如是說。他是作為聯(lián)合國糧農(nóng)組織一部分的亞洲和太平洋地區(qū)跨境疾病急救中心的區(qū)域主管。
香港大學(xué)的微生物學(xué)家袁國勇說，學(xué)名中的“N1”即病毒的神經(jīng)氨酸酶基因片段來自亞歐大陸的豬流感。它控制著病毒擺脫受感染的細(xì)胞的能力。但是他補(bǔ)充說，太多的豬被跨境轉(zhuǎn)移，很難精確定位病毒的來源。
現(xiàn)在似乎還沒有這種新型病毒在中國爆發(fā)的跡象。中國的豬肉加工廠，河南眾品食品有限公司的副總經(jīng)理本博客（音）說，最近沒有疾病在豬或豬農(nóng)中間傳染。
兩年前，中國數(shù)以百萬的豬死于傳染病，以致于豬肉價格上漲了90%。獸醫(yī)們將豬的死亡歸因于藍(lán)耳病。這種病不傳染人，但也是豬流感。中國政府并沒有發(fā)表公開報告，評估疫情，并只提供極少細(xì)節(jié)給國際組織。
The Naming of Swine Flu, a Curious Matter
The Naming of Swine Flu, a Curious Matter
Published: April 28, 2009
HONG KONG — What to call the new strain of flu raising alarms around the world has taken on political, economic and diplomatic overtones.
Asking for More Funding, U.S. Steps Up Flu Response (April 29, 2009)
Times Topics: Swine FluPork producers question whether the term "swine flu" is appropriate, given that the new virus has not yet been isolated in samples taken from pigs in Mexico or elsewhere. While the new virus seems to be most heavily composed of genetic sequences from swine influenza virus material, it also has human and avian influenza genetic sequences as well, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
Government officials in Thailand, one of the world’s largest meat exporters, have started referring to the disease as “Mexican flu.” An Israeli deputy health minister — an ultra-Orthodox Jew — said his country would do the same, to keep Jews from having to say the word “swine.” However, his call seemed to have been largely ignored.
Janet Napolitano, the secretary for homeland security, and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack went out of their way at a press conference in Washington on Tuesday to refer to the virus by its scientific name, as the "H1N1 virus."
"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.
The World Organization for Animal Health, which handles veterinary issues around the world, issued a statement late Monday suggesting that the new disease should be labeled “North American influenza,” in keeping with a long medical tradition of naming influenza pandemics for the regions where they were first identified. This has included the Spanish flu of 1918 to 1919, the Asian flu of 1957 to 1958 and the Hong Kong flu of 1967 to 1968.
The debate is likely to continue as scientists and health authorities try to trace the disease. While all signs now point to Mexico as the epicenter, the genetic material in the virus there includes part of a swine influenza virus of Eurasian origin. And influenza viruses tend to emerge from Asia.
Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of China called for stepped up measures on Tuesday to prevent and control any possible cases of swine flu that might show up in the country.
Many medical historians believe that the Asian and Hong Kong flus started in southeastern China near Hong Kong, where very high densities of people live in close proximity to hogs and chickens in rural areas and can share their viruses. Some historians also suggest that the Spanish flu also started in southeastern China.
The Mexican ambassador to Beijing, Jorge Guajardo, has been outspoken this week in suggesting that the disease did not originate in Mexico. He said in a telephone interview on Tuesday that the disease was brought to his country by an infected person from somewhere in “Eurasia,” the land mass of Europe and Asia.
Ambassador Guajardo said in a telephone interview that his government had been told by American and Canadian experts that the genetic sequence of the virus pointed to Eurasian origin.
“This did not happen in Mexico,” he said, adding, “It was a human who brought this to Mexico.”
But flu specialists in Asia said that the new virus probably did not make the jump from animals to people in Asia.
“If that is the case, you would see a lot of infections in Asia by now,” said Subash Morzaria, the regional manager for Asia and the Pacific at the Emergency Center for Transboundary Diseases, which is part of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization.
The neuraminidase genetic segment of the virus, which gives the virus its “N1” name and controls the ability of the virus to break out of infected cells, comes from a Eurasian strain of swine flu, said Dr. Yuen Kwok-yung, a microbiologist at Hong Kong University. But he added that enough pigs are moved across national borders that it is impossible to place the location more precisely.
There seems little indication of any outbreak of the new flu in China. There have been no recent surges in illnesses among pigs or pig farmers, according to Ben Boake, the executive vice president of the Henan Zhongpin Food Company Ltd., one of China’s largest pork processors.
Millions of pigs died in China two years ago in an epidemic so severe that it pushed pork prices up 90 percent. Veterinarians attributed the deaths at the time mainly to blue-ear disease, which does not affect humans, but also to swine flu. The Chinese government did not issue a public report assessing the outbreak and provided very few details to international organizations.
香港消息-如何稱呼在世界各地拉響警報的新型流感？這在全世界已經(jīng)帶上政治，經(jīng)濟(jì)和外交的意味了。
豬肉生產(chǎn)商們質(zhì)疑“豬流感”這一名詞是否適當(dāng)。他們認(rèn)為這種新型的病毒還沒有被從在墨西哥或者其它地方的豬中分離出來。而設(shè)在亞特蘭大的疾病預(yù)防和控制中心的認(rèn)為，這種新型病毒雖然絕大部分是由豬流感病毒的基因序列組成，卻也有人類流感和禽流感的基因序列在內(nèi)。
作為世界上的肉類出口國之一，泰國的政府官員們已經(jīng)開始以“墨西哥流感”來稱呼這種疾病。一位以色列衛(wèi)生部副部長，極端正統(tǒng)派的*人說，他們的國家會如法炮制，不讓*人說“豬”字。然而，他的呼吁似乎基本上被忽略了。
星期二國土安全部秘書長珍妮·納波利塔諾和農(nóng)業(yè)部長湯姆·維爾薩克在華盛頓的新聞發(fā)布會上用學(xué)名稱呼這種病毒為“H1N1病毒”。
維爾薩克說，這不是一種食源性疾病或病毒。稱其為豬流感是不正確的，因為這本來不是這樣子的。
負(fù)責(zé)世界范圍內(nèi)獸醫(yī)衛(wèi)生問題的世界動物衛(wèi)生組織在星期一發(fā)表了一份聲明稱，這種新型的病毒應(yīng)該稱為“北美流感”，以保持流行感冒一貫以首次發(fā)現(xiàn)地命名的傳統(tǒng)，包括1918-1919的西班牙流感，1957-1958的亞洲流感和1967-1968的香港流感。
這場爭論很可能還會持續(xù)，因為科學(xué)家和衛(wèi)生部門仍試圖追蹤這種疾病。雖然所有的跡象都集中地指向墨西哥，病毒的遺傳物質(zhì)卻包含部分有歐亞起源的豬流感病毒。而且，流感病毒往往來自亞洲。
星期二中國國家總理溫家寶呼吁加強(qiáng)措施以預(yù)防和控制任何可能的豬流感病例在該國出現(xiàn)。
許多醫(yī)學(xué)歷史學(xué)家認(rèn)為，亞洲和香港流感最初在毗鄰香港的中國東南部爆發(fā)，那里人口密度非常高，在農(nóng)村地區(qū)居住在靠近豬和雞的人們可能傳染上動物的病毒。一些歷史學(xué)家還認(rèn)為，西班牙病毒同樣發(fā)端于中國東南部。
本周墨西哥駐北京的大使喬治·瓜哈爾多直言不諱地說，這種病毒并非發(fā)源于墨西哥。他在星期二的電話采訪中說，疾病被感染者從“亞歐大陸”某地帶至他的國家。
喬治·瓜哈爾多在電話采訪中說，他的政府接到美國和加拿大專家的消息說，病毒的基因序列顯示，它來自亞歐大陸。
然而，亞洲的流感專家說，這種新型病毒很可能并沒有在亞洲從動物傳染到人。
“如果是這樣的話，你會看到亞洲有很多傳染案例了?！比霭拖！つλ_利亞如是說。他是作為聯(lián)合國糧農(nóng)組織一部分的亞洲和太平洋地區(qū)跨境疾病急救中心的區(qū)域主管。
香港大學(xué)的微生物學(xué)家袁國勇說，學(xué)名中的“N1”即病毒的神經(jīng)氨酸酶基因片段來自亞歐大陸的豬流感。它控制著病毒擺脫受感染的細(xì)胞的能力。但是他補(bǔ)充說，太多的豬被跨境轉(zhuǎn)移，很難精確定位病毒的來源。
現(xiàn)在似乎還沒有這種新型病毒在中國爆發(fā)的跡象。中國的豬肉加工廠，河南眾品食品有限公司的副總經(jīng)理本博客（音）說，最近沒有疾病在豬或豬農(nóng)中間傳染。
兩年前，中國數(shù)以百萬的豬死于傳染病，以致于豬肉價格上漲了90%。獸醫(yī)們將豬的死亡歸因于藍(lán)耳病。這種病不傳染人，但也是豬流感。中國政府并沒有發(fā)表公開報告，評估疫情，并只提供極少細(xì)節(jié)給國際組織。
The Naming of Swine Flu, a Curious Matter
The Naming of Swine Flu, a Curious Matter
Published: April 28, 2009
HONG KONG — What to call the new strain of flu raising alarms around the world has taken on political, economic and diplomatic overtones.
Asking for More Funding, U.S. Steps Up Flu Response (April 29, 2009)
Times Topics: Swine FluPork producers question whether the term "swine flu" is appropriate, given that the new virus has not yet been isolated in samples taken from pigs in Mexico or elsewhere. While the new virus seems to be most heavily composed of genetic sequences from swine influenza virus material, it also has human and avian influenza genetic sequences as well, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
Government officials in Thailand, one of the world’s largest meat exporters, have started referring to the disease as “Mexican flu.” An Israeli deputy health minister — an ultra-Orthodox Jew — said his country would do the same, to keep Jews from having to say the word “swine.” However, his call seemed to have been largely ignored.
Janet Napolitano, the secretary for homeland security, and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack went out of their way at a press conference in Washington on Tuesday to refer to the virus by its scientific name, as the "H1N1 virus."
"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.
The World Organization for Animal Health, which handles veterinary issues around the world, issued a statement late Monday suggesting that the new disease should be labeled “North American influenza,” in keeping with a long medical tradition of naming influenza pandemics for the regions where they were first identified. This has included the Spanish flu of 1918 to 1919, the Asian flu of 1957 to 1958 and the Hong Kong flu of 1967 to 1968.
The debate is likely to continue as scientists and health authorities try to trace the disease. While all signs now point to Mexico as the epicenter, the genetic material in the virus there includes part of a swine influenza virus of Eurasian origin. And influenza viruses tend to emerge from Asia.
Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of China called for stepped up measures on Tuesday to prevent and control any possible cases of swine flu that might show up in the country.
Many medical historians believe that the Asian and Hong Kong flus started in southeastern China near Hong Kong, where very high densities of people live in close proximity to hogs and chickens in rural areas and can share their viruses. Some historians also suggest that the Spanish flu also started in southeastern China.
The Mexican ambassador to Beijing, Jorge Guajardo, has been outspoken this week in suggesting that the disease did not originate in Mexico. He said in a telephone interview on Tuesday that the disease was brought to his country by an infected person from somewhere in “Eurasia,” the land mass of Europe and Asia.
Ambassador Guajardo said in a telephone interview that his government had been told by American and Canadian experts that the genetic sequence of the virus pointed to Eurasian origin.
“This did not happen in Mexico,” he said, adding, “It was a human who brought this to Mexico.”
But flu specialists in Asia said that the new virus probably did not make the jump from animals to people in Asia.
“If that is the case, you would see a lot of infections in Asia by now,” said Subash Morzaria, the regional manager for Asia and the Pacific at the Emergency Center for Transboundary Diseases, which is part of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization.
The neuraminidase genetic segment of the virus, which gives the virus its “N1” name and controls the ability of the virus to break out of infected cells, comes from a Eurasian strain of swine flu, said Dr. Yuen Kwok-yung, a microbiologist at Hong Kong University. But he added that enough pigs are moved across national borders that it is impossible to place the location more precisely.
There seems little indication of any outbreak of the new flu in China. There have been no recent surges in illnesses among pigs or pig farmers, according to Ben Boake, the executive vice president of the Henan Zhongpin Food Company Ltd., one of China’s largest pork processors.
Millions of pigs died in China two years ago in an epidemic so severe that it pushed pork prices up 90 percent. Veterinarians attributed the deaths at the time mainly to blue-ear disease, which does not affect humans, but also to swine flu. The Chinese government did not issue a public report assessing the outbreak and provided very few details to international organizations.