In an attempt to bring their livelihood issue into focus, pork traders in Coimbatore presented a petition to the District Collector TN Hariharan requesting him to issue instructions to use the term H1N1 influenza instead of swine flu.
In the petition submitted to the Collector at the grievance day meet held on Monday at the collectorate, the Coimbatore Pork Merchants and Sellers Association headed by their president, Ramasamy, stated that the term ‘swine flu’ used in advertisements and awareness materials is causing an adverse impact on their trade. “The usage of the term swine flu creates fear among people which prevents them from buying pork. This affects our business in a big way and in turn affects our livelihood,” read their petition in Tamil.
Adding that Tamil Nadu has around 2,000 pig farmers and pork shops with more than 20 lakh people dependent on the industry for their survival, the petition also stated that the government has issued certificates and trained pig-rearing farmers to vaccinate the pigs and to neuter them. “Keeping these issues in mind, we request the government of Tamil Nadu to use the term H1N1 influenza virus in all the publicity material henceforth and help us save our livelihood,” the petition read.
Meanwhile, as on Monday evening, the number of swine flu cases diagnosed and currently being treated as in-patients in Coimbatore is 24. There have been no deaths till date due to swine flu in the district, according to Dr Ashokan, Dean, Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital.
Speaking to TNM, Dr Ashokan said, “The number of new cases of swine flu are on a decline in the past one week. Since the temperature in western Tamil Nadu has increased, the rate of transmission of virus has come down. Swine flu has a tendency to spread in cooler temperatures and wet weather.”
Coimbatore recorded temperatures in the 22-32 degree Celsius range since December 5 whereas it was much lower before that.