Controversy over the name

Leading experts claim that the virus is making the whole world panic mainly because of pigs, and said that although the US and WHO do not want to call the disease "swine flu", it is still swine flu in nature. .

Pigs in a farm in Indonesia.Photo: AP.

Experts argue that if the majority of the virus's genes are from pigs, the virus's parents are live pigs, the disease should be called swine flu.

Six of the eight gene segments of the current influenza virus belong to the swine flu virus, the other two from the avian and human influenza genes, but have been living in disorder for a decade. Dr Raul Rabadan, Columbia University biology professor, said.

The analysis results show that the closest parents of the current deadly flu virus are the North American swine flu strain and the Eurasian region.

"Scientifically, this is a swine flu virus , " said world-leading virologist Richard Webby. He is the director of the Center for Ecological Studies of WHO low-level influenza viruses and birds.

"This is clearly a swine flu virus," said Henry Niman, president of Recombinomics, a virus tracking firm. "It's a virus that comes from pigs, there's no other name to call it."

Meanwhile, WHO yesterday announced it would not use the word "swine flu" to describe its current raging disease, to avoid confusion for consumers and protection of pigs.

The United States previously suggested not to use swine flu. The Ministry of Agriculture said that the term was misleading that the plague was related to pork.