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Spanish flu did not come from Spain. Names are arbitrary, in a sense. Attaching a place name to a virus serves no useful purpose. I have heard nobody call it t

Spanish flu did not come from Spain. Names are arbitrary, in a sense. Attaching a place name to a virus serves no useful purpose. I have heard nobody call it the “Wuhan Virus”. There is no good explanation for this name other than the desire to attach stigma to China.

Hamuko 7y ago
I support renaming the Spanish flu to the ever-so-spiffy "maybe American maybe Chinese maybe English flu".
- olliej 7y ago
  It should be named after the place with the first reported symptoms apparently. So let’s just call it “Kansas Fever” - it has a nice ring to it.
- madhadron 7y ago
  I refer to it as the 1918 flu, myself.
Fjolsvith 7y ago
CNN called it the Wuhan virus for weeks.
cwzwarich 7y ago
The name "Wuhan coronavirus" was pretty common in January (e.g. https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/21/health/wuhan-coronavirus-first-us-case-cdc-bn/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/21/health/wuhan-coronavirus-firs...), since the SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 names only came out February 11th.
tomp 7y ago
Most mainstream media were using "Wuhan Virus" or "Chinese Virus" before switching to "novel coronavirus" and finally the scientific name (after it was decided). The switch probably happened about the same time as Trump started referring to it on Twitter and in his speeches, as mainstream media tried to distance themselves from the President and use whatever name he was using as another way to criticize him. It's now become another full-blown front in the Culture War, with many SJWs attempting to even rename Spanish Flu on Wikipedia!