H1N1 confusing to most people - no surprise here!

As COHealth posted today, most people remain confused about the term H1N1. (Source: public poll conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health)

Just yesterday I contacted CDC about wanting a consistent way of referring to the virus, since a lot of CDC's stuff has different names. I said, "I thought I might suggest one convention among Colorado PIOs so we try to avoid confusing people. What do you think of 'new H1N1 flu virus' to keep it simple and appropriate for all literacy levels?" (After all, I am the co-chair of a national health literacy committee....)

CDC's response: the different names are on older web pages and all will be converted to the official and correct name:

"I think your suggest for Colorado is fine, but be advised that novel influenza A (H1N1) is the correct nomenclature for the new flu virus and will continued to be used by CDC and others. The reason for the variation in CDC documents is that the name change occurred midway through the event...."

So, what do you think, public health people? (And should we use this forum to discuss the pros and cons of each of these options?) Please respond by commenting!!

1. Should we use the official name of novel influenza A (H1N1)?

2. Should we adopt our own convention for Colorado and what should it be?

3. Should we let everyone call it whatever they want? (Most people would call it swine flu, including the media.)

Please respond here (using the comments feature) and ask others to read and respond as well!