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(Bernama) - Health Ministry Director-General Tan Sri Dr Mohd Ismail Merican today gave three reasons why his ministry is sticking to the term Influenza A(H1N1) instead of swine flu.

Dr Mohd Ismail Merican said firstly that the virus that causes the spread of the disease is a mixture of three aspects – human beings, avian and swine – as identified by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

He also said Malaysia must comply with the directive of WHO because if it were to use another term, it would mean that other countries too could use different terms and that could lead to chaos in controlling the spread of this pandemic.

Furthermore, he said that using the term ‘swine flu’ could lead to a misunderstanding as the people would have the wrong perception that only those who consumed pork would be infected by the virus.

“Because of these three reasons, the Health Ministry would maintain its stand of using the term Influenza A(H1N1).

“I have conveyed this information to the minister and I hope he (Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai) will bring up the matter for discussion by the Cabinet ministers today,” he told reporters, here today.

He said this when asked to comment on the statement yesterday by Information Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim, who suggested that the media used the term ‘swine flu’ instead of Influenza A(H1N1) used currently.

Dr Rais had said the suggestion was made to ensure that the public was aware of the danger of the flu and that the message could be conveyed more accurately to them.

Commenting further, Dr Mohd Ismail said “on April 29, WHO had issued a statement to change the name ‘swine flu’ to Influenza A(H1N1) because of the combination of the three factors, that is, human beings, avian and swine. This is not the swine flu that you see every day. This is a new virus,” he said.

He said the use of a different terminology would also make it impossible to carry out a comparative study.

Dr Mohd Ismail also said that he did not intend to dispute the suggestion made by the minister concerned but a directive from WHO must be complied with because Malaysia was part of WHO.

Comments (32)

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written by malgal, June 26, 2009 22:34:54

good sense prevails. mr rais yatim, lest your new terminonolgy creates undue havoc, please stick to what the entire world understands and accepts.

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written by Duke, June 26, 2009 22:41:10

The economy is in shambles; Ministers & politicians are busy starting racial fires; Ministers & civil servants are busily engrossed in looting the nation's coffers; religious fundamentalists are pouring petrol into the fires started by politicians......the list goes on and on but 1 miserable low-life of a Minister has nothing better to do than to suggest a name-change for H1N1.

Is this for real or what?

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written by savemalaysia, June 26, 2009 22:42:39

According to Rais(Sorry, his name is too long and difficult to pronounce),H1N1 is difficult to pronounce and confusing by Malay media!!
I really cannot imagine he is a PhD holder, a lawyer and an experienced minister can uttered such statement! What a shame for the malaysians!
Dr.Koh Tsu Koon, I wish to remind you that the KPI for this Rais must be reviewed again to give him F- in order to reflect his mentality.

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written by volkswagen, June 26, 2009 22:55:50

I have the greatest respect for Chua Jui Meng (ex-Minister of Health) when he was handling the J.E outbreak many years ago. Until today I still remember his seriousness and very firm words he used when he spoke on TV on J.E. But our current Health Minister & the DG of Health Ministry can smile and laugh whenever they make the H1N1 annoncement in TV every night. Looking at their gestures when they talk, it does show any seriousness in their faces that the country is facing serious health risks. If you need to smile and laugh, do it after you finish with your press conference. Then smile and laugh all you want.

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written by max_crazy, June 26, 2009 22:58:34

aku betul..betul tak faham anak yatim tu..otaknya segiempat..ke.. atau pengetahuan darjah satu saja,Tapi sudah bukti dia dah menunjuk kebodohannya ke antarabangsa,dia dah lagi sekali meningkat nama ranking malaysia ke antabangsa,apa ..lah "selsema babi".WHO sudah mengata penyakit tu tidak semesti datang daripada babi,panggil pakar2 kau tu membuktikan selsema tu punca daripada babi dulu,masa tu you nak namakan selsema bak kut teh..ke,selsema char siew..ke atau selsema babi hutan..ke ,kita pun tak kisah...la dan jangan import Vaccine selsema H1N1 kemungkinan besar namanya Vaccine babi juga... sebelum dapat bukti yang kukuh..jgn ikut selera kau tu.kalau betul betul rindu kepada babi nama..lah jalan kau kat rumah depan tu "jalan babi"..la.

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written by MalayMail, June 26, 2009 23:03:49

1. Rais should resign as a Information Minister for giving out false and inacurate information, we are ashamed to have a Minister like him!
2. The 'Bak Kut Teh' hawkers & pork sellers should gether together and DAP lawyers will help them to sue him for the wrong information which affecting their business.
3. Health Ministry is right for sticking to the term Influenza A(H1N1)n.

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written by Orang Muda, June 27, 2009 00:02:06

"...it would mean that other countries too could use different terms and that could lead to chaos in controlling the spread of this pandemic."

They said that Singaporeans are afraid of 5 things-

1. afraid of "losing" (Kia Su)
2. Afraid of "Ghost" (Kia gui)
3. Afraid of "dying" (Kia si)
4. Afraid of their "wife" (Kia bor)
5. Afraid of the "government" (Kia zheng Hu)

so, to fight H1N1, imagine if they start to use terms like "Lose flu", "Ghost flu", "Dead flu", "wife flu" and "the government flu" so that people are aware of its danger and seriousness. WHO would have a lot of headache then...

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written by mowadoha, June 27, 2009 00:26:52

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written by budakindia, June 27, 2009 00:33:59

Come on make it compulsory on the usage of swine flu term. The whole country is practically the laughing stock of the world. It wouldn't hurt to just add another. Come on make another stupid and silly move. I bet the whole WHO organization are laughing their ass*s out by now. Rais you should try another stunt, try farting with your stinking mouth. It simply amusing to see the voluminous amount of BS coming out straight from your mouth.

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written by mowadoha, June 27, 2009 00:57:39

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written by mowadoha, June 27, 2009 01:05:09

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written by toorikakari, June 27, 2009 02:39:47

Its a shame that there are suggestions to use the term Swine Flu instead of H1N1. Our politicians have always thread on the lines of race cards, albeit, the world are using H1N1 on an understanding that is a combination of flu strains.

Our Information Communication and Culture Minister must be made to understand that his role is not only to allow the genuine information to be dessiminated but also to be diplomatic and subtle in his ministry's approach. Trying to distort information is trying to undermine the intelligience of Malaysians and a misrepresentation is a serious offence.

If this were to happen in Japan or Taiwan, the said Minister would have to vacate his portfolio with an apology.

It is high time that Malaysia adopt this culture to have a team of Ministers who are up to world standards. Maybe it is high time that our Prime Minister, Najib may want to take this initial step and be known in history as Father of Re-engineer of Malaysian Politics

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written by Tan Tan, June 27, 2009 03:04:23

this rais yatim...surely wanna creates unhappy among chinese malaysian here

just wanna call babi flu....to create tension

can't u believe it...this is cabinet minister serving our country and us.

no good coming from changing the terminology except to create unneccessary drama. H satu N satu....very susah to prounce meh?

futuremore, msian r smarter now..of course we know the danger of it!

he thinks everyone like his...worse than a kampung boy

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written by educationist, June 27, 2009 06:01:53

Well, at least in this instance some professionalism is shown!
The suggestion coming from someone like Rais Yatim goes to show he's starting to lose everything -first his decency now his intellect!

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written by tuk kentut, June 27, 2009 09:09:10

Swine flu??
luckily is Dato R who said it, if Dato L , surely sudah masuk ISA.
I was surprise why such stupid statement can be made by minister.

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written by batsman, June 27, 2009 09:17:05

Lets the professionals do their jobs please! Low class politicians who interfere with the work of professionals will only screw up the system more. These low class politicians cannot even get H1N1 right and confuse the numbers and letters, so they dumb down everything for their own convenience. This is called the dumbing down of Malaysia and low class UMNO politicians are to blame.

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written by chiongguo, June 27, 2009 09:18:00

Why are my posts been censored/reviewed by admin ?

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written by chiongguo, June 27, 2009 09:21:13

Dr Mohd Ismail Merican said firstly that the virus that causes the spread of the disease is a mixture of three aspects – human beings, avian and swine – as identified by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The chances of 3 genetic material from 3 different species co-existing in a single virus is very small indeed. There is a HIGH PROBABILITY that this virus was manufactured.

www dot virology dot ws/2009/03/02/origin-of-current-influenza-h1n1-virus

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written by densemy, June 27, 2009 09:34:59

Its reassuring to see the Minister and the Head of his Department disagreeing with each other publicly

The level of communication between these guys must be pretty good

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written by mikefonz, June 27, 2009 10:00:57

Pig/Swine can be referred as KHINZIR in BM.
Why call BABI ? Is he refering to himself, our moron Info Minister ?
Go cry again when ppl call you stupid.

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written by Zapper, June 27, 2009 10:39:30

Hello....Rais is a Lawyer...thought that he knows better. OOPhs...we lost the island.

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written by PRman, June 27, 2009 12:05:10

Salute to Health Ministry Director-General Tan Sri Dr Mohd Ismail Merican! Thanks for being rational, Malaysians appreciate that.

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written by mikewang, June 27, 2009 17:32:03

Dr Mohd Ismail Merican,

You are giving too many unnecessary reasons.
There is only one reason and the reason is that WHO, and thus the rest of the world, is calling this flu the A (H1N1) flu.

That "burnt bridge" and "disavow own thesis on ISA" non-medical doctor is plan stupid.

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written by Kathy, June 27, 2009 19:33:41

Is Malaysia the only country squabbling over terminology whilst the rest of the world is trying to grapple with finding an anti-H1N1 vaccine? The Information Minister should be guided by the Health Ministry on health matters.

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written by yy88, June 27, 2009 20:10:45

To reduce confusion and ensure our rural and international communities recognise this disease,
how about universally calling it H1N1-SWINE-FLU-RAIS-DEMAM-BABI. Sure no confusion!

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written by rams609, June 27, 2009 20:56:39

But then Rais Yatim might ask Low Tiong Lai, "Who's WHO????"

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written by rams609, June 27, 2009 20:57:19

Liow, my apologies.

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written by gx27, June 27, 2009 22:40:36

to avoid confusion in the future, we shall refer this minister Rais Barbie ok?

agree? Rais Barbie?

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written by max_crazy, June 27, 2009 23:05:25

vaksin vaksin selsema babi telah diimport masuk ke malaysia...tapi kerana namanya tidak halal,tak boleh digunakan,penyakit-penyakit sekalian sila tunggu mati sahaja.

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