Published online 23 April 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/452923a

Politically correct names given to flu viruses

Names of flu viruses appearing in the scientific literature have
undergone something of a mutation this year. The group of H5N1 avian
flu viruses, once known as 'Fujian-like', has morphed into 'Clade
2.3.4'. And its 'Qinghai-like' cousin is now called 'Clade 2.2'. They
are part of a complete revision of H5N1 nomenclature recommended by
the World Health Organization (WHO).

The system is now more politically correct. It avoids the
"stigmatizing labelling of clades by geographical reference",
according to the WHO. In 2006, when scientists assigned the name
'Fujian-like virus' to a vaccine-resistant strain of H5N1 that spread
across Asia, China objected strongly to the name. Government officials
argued that the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian was tainted by
association as the virus spread.

But a WHO official told Nature that discussions for a revised
nomenclature were underway before the spat, and that the "impetus was
scientific". "We recognized that naming based on geography was
probably not a good idea for other reasons," she says.

"I find the geographical naming system rather confusing and
unspecific; this more precise numbering system is far more rigorous,"
says Edward Holmes, a flu genomicist at Pennsylvania State University
in University Park. The new system does not affect the naming of
individual H5N1 virus sequences — held in the GenBank database — that
make up such clades. These will continue to display geographic and
species data on the sample. Geographic information is relevant, says
the WHO official, because it locates the sample's place of origin.

-- 
Peter L Borst
Danby, NY USA
42.35, -76.50
http://picasaweb.google.com/peterlborst

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