World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan calls it ‘the flu that threatens all humanity.’ The formerly-named swine flu is no longer just associated with swine. While it originated from pigs, the spread of infection is now through human transmission.

WHO Assistant Director-General Keiji Fukuda justifies the change of name as a logical step because the virus has become human flu. It was also an attempt to correct negative perception. “We were getting reports in some places that pigs were being slaughtered, and animals are not to blame for what is happening,” he said.

The decision of the WHO also considered the pressure on the meat industry, as the name ‘swine’ virus has been causing a slump in the sale and consumption of pork, even if health authorities insist that there is no risk from eating pork and pork products. The old name has become a stigma.

As to the new and official nomenclature Influenza A (H1N1), H1N1 is the designation for the seasonal flu. The letter A corresponds to the type of human influenza which tends to become pandemic. The number 1 is the classification of virus strains. H is the initial for hemagglutinin and N corresponds to the term neuraminidase (two viral proteins). All influenza A viruses contain hemagglutinin and neuraminidase.

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Via WHO