April 30, 2009- The World Health Organization says it will stop using the term "swine flu'' to avoid confusion over the danger posed by pigs.
WHO spokesman Dick Thompson says the name change comes after the agriculture industry and the UN food agency expressed concerns that the term "swine flu'' was misleading consumers and needlessly causing countries to order the slaughter of pigs.
He told reporters in Geneva "we're going to stick with the technical scientific name H1N1 influenza A.''
The WHO raised the pandemic flu alert to Phase 5 on Wednesday, one step away from the highest level indicating a global outbreak.
WHO flu chief Keiji Fukuda said Thursday that the UN agency has seen nothing yet to prompt it to further raise the alert level.
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