Israeli Official: Swine Flu Name Offensive
JERUSALEM (AP) - An Israeli health official says swine flu should be called "Mexican flu" instead.
Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman says the reference to swine is offensive to Jews and Muslims.
Both Judaism and Islam consider pigs unclean and forbid the eating of pork products.
Scientists, however, say there is nothing about the virus that makes it "Mexican" and worry that such a label would be stigmatizing. They're unsure where the new swine flu virus originally emerged, though it was identified first in the United States.
Two Israelis who recently visited Mexico have been hospitalized with symptoms of the flu, but health officials were unsure if they actually had the virus.
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