Why diseases should be named carefully

Disease names can have consequences. Yes this is true.

Government agencies generally do not pay attention whenever disease is named. This is not only in India but is prevalent in other countries also.

Swine flu has nothing to do with pigs but pigs were slaughtered in some countries at the time of spread of Swine Flu. In 2009 Egypt ordered killing of 300,000 pigs to stop its spread.

Spanish flu did not originate from Spain. Many organizations working on Spanish flu brought Spain to limelight claiming it to be the source of this disease and hence Spain could not censor reports and figures on this disease though some of the countries censored this.

HIV was first called “gay related immune deficiency” or GRID leading heterosexuals to underestimate the risk of unprotected sex.

Sudden change in colour of Bosphorus strait connnecting Europe & Asia

Have you heard of Bosphorus Strait?

This strait connects continents of Asia and Europe in Istanbul, capital of Turkey.

People noticed this change as the colour of strait was bluish earlier and changed to milky turquoise this week.

This sudden change has been attributed by scientists to increasing level of pollution in the sea and surge in a species of plankton across the Black Sea.

Other reasons cited are earthquake in the region on 12^th Jun 2017 afternoon and surge in micro organism Emiliania huxleyi popularly known as Ehux.

If this continues, it may endanger species of fish and other animals living in the sea in this area and may result in decline in tourism and protests by environmentalists.