GENEVA — The World Health Organization says it will stop using the term "swine flu" to avoid the erroneous impression that people can catch the disease from pigs and pork.
WHO spokesman Dick Thompson says the name change comes after the agriculture industry and the U.N. food agency expressed concerns that the term "swine flu" is 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."
WHO raised the pandemic flu alert to phase 5 on Wednesday, one step away from the highest level indicating a global outbreak.
The U.N. agency sees nothing yet to prompt it to raise the pandemic alert further, an official said.
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