The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Thursday that it would no longer use the term "swine flu" to refer to the current outbreak. Instead, it would refer to the new influenza virus as "influenza A (H1N1)".

"From today (April 30), WHO will refer to the new influenza virus as influenza A (H1N1)," the UN agency said in a short notice posted on its website.

The WHO has repeatedly stressed that people cannot be infected by this new virus through consumption of well-cooked pork or exposure to pigs.

"Even though the virus originated in pigs, we do not believe that people are getting infected by pigs," said Keiji Fukuda, the WHO's assistant director-general ad interim for health security and environment.

"This is really a virus that is being transmitted from person to person. Therefore, we think that with food-handling practices, the eating of pork meat does not pose a danger to people," Fukuda told reporters.

(Xinhua News Agency May 1, 2009)