Listening to government officials in recent days, one might get the badly mistaken impression there are two contagious flu viruses spreading across the world: swine flu and something new called H1N1.

They are the same thing. H1N1 is the scientific name for the swine flu virus.

As the number of cases of swine influenza continues to climb worldwide, officials led by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack are waging a battle against bad public relations targeting the pig.

Vilsack and others have begun very publicly replacing their references to swine flu virus with H1N1, its medical name. They are emphasizing H1N1 because they fear the virus’ nickname could turn consumers against the $15 billion pork industry.

Evidence exists that it’s already happening.

Hog-related commodities have dropped in price in the past week on speculation that Americans, fearful that the consumption of pork may cause swine flu, may cut back on their pork product purchases. 

Frozen pork belly futures at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the most heavily pork-related product, have fallen 6.7% in the past week from 82 cents a pound to 76.5 cents a pound – mostly because of concerns related to swine flu. 

For pork producers, the outbreak of this virus has added another additional problem to their businesses, farmers said. Don Nikodim with the Missouri Pork Producers Association said his pork producers, because of high feed costs, were already losing between $15 to $18 a head - not including the recent addition of H1N1.

"We’ve already been through 18 months in red ink in the pork industry and now we’re getting kicked again," Nikodim said.

Scientists have said repeatedly that swine flu cannot be contracted by eating pork, explaining that the virus can only be contracted in the traditional ways influenza is passed from one person to another.

Moreover, according to the World Health Organization, swine influenza has not been shown to be transmissible through eating pork and pork-related products. 

The virus is also killed in any meat by cooking pork to 160 degrees Fahrenheit, the traditional temperature at which pork is cooked and prepared.

But government officials and the pork industry are not taking any chances. At a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Secretary Vilsack warned that severe economic damage could occur if misinformation becomes misconstrued as fact.

“The livelihoods of a lot of people are at stake here,” the agriculture secretary said. “We want to reinforce the fact that we're doing everything we possibly can to make sure our hog industry is sound and safe, and to make sure that consumers in this country and around the world know that American products are safe.”

He emphasized, as well, that commodity markets, especially in this distressed economy, are “very sensitive.”

The National Pork Producers Council – the lobbying group for the $15 billion hog slaughtering industry – isn’t taking chances as well.

“Pork is safe to eat, and direct contact with swine is not the source of, and U.S. pigs have not been infected with, the (influenza virus),” the organization said in a statement. 

While the pork producers have a economic stake in making sure swine flu is called H1N1, doctors and veterinarians said they have a valid point.

"It's sort of a misnomer to call this disease swine flu," said Dr. Beth Young, a veterinarian with the University of Missouri-Columbia. "This virus is not found in pigs at all."

While pigs can contract respiratory diseases like the flu just like humans do, the H1N1 virus a hybrid virus that contains genetic material of the human influenza virus, the avian influenza virus and the swine influenza virus. 

"This virus circulating among humans is not similarly circulating among pigs," Young said. 

Young emphasized that even if a pig was infected by swine influenza, the virus infects the lungs and respiratory tissues of the animal - which are not typically used for consumption.

But don't expect the swine flu name to go away any time soon. WHO officials expressed worry that changing the name now might cause unnecessary confusion.

This isn’t the first time the meat and slaughtering industry has been affected by disease-related bad public relations. 

The beef industry took a blow during the “mad cow” outbreak earlier this decade, and the poultry industry has dealt with two outbreaks of avian influenza that caused consumption of poultry products to drop.