How can we avoid a swine flu pandemic?

The UN's World Health Organization has raised the alert over swine flu from level four to level five - a strong signal a pandemic is imminent. Are you taking more precautions?

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Your comments:

When all's said and done, it's merely flu. I'd be worried if it were a serious illness, but flu?
Megan, Cheshire, UK

If a large percentage of this is spread by touch then why isn't the government, or large companies, actually doing something positive like the introduction of alcohol gel dispensers? As usual too little, too late.
Gary Preston, Crewe, England

OK. Perspective here. Every year over half a million people die of colds and flu. There was swine flu in 1976 - the American government spent millions on TV adverts. Words like "deadly virus" are used by the media to sell stories. I don't think they mean to frighten the bejeazus out of us - but they do. Flu is dangerous if not treated. Be smart and if you're ill stay home and get treated. You and your family will be fine. Alcoholism, suicide, cars and DIY are much more likely to kill you this week.
Will Smith, Oxford

My understanding is that if you already have a viral illness (such as a cold) it is not possible for you to contract another at the same time. I am not a medic so am not sure of the facts. If this is true, wouldn't a simple way of protecting people short term be to give them a cold, on purpose?
Angela Moss, Hong Kong

I have yet to see any advice relating specifically to people with impaired immune systems. I am a recipient of a double transplant and my immune system is restricted through immunosuppressant drug therapy. Yearly flu vaccinations have limited effectiveness against the predominant virus. What advice specifically addressing the concern of a particularly susceptible minority is offered regarding a potentially pandemic outbreak of a little understood flu strain with as yet, an uncertain infection mechanism or contamination potential?
mdw18, Nottingham, UK

If we put aside the hysteria and the obsession with reporting worst case rather than most probable scenarios, and concentrate on the facts, we have: 1. a handful of confirmed deaths in Mexico and 150 'suspected' deaths from an unspecified number of people who have been infected; 2. around 300 others in the rest of the world who have a mild dose of the flu. Thus far, it hardly seems to merit the excitable column inches and breathy lead stories on every news update.
Victoria, Cambridge

Home Office statistics say that 27,000 people in the UK died of flu on 2007 and worldwide that figure is close to half a million. Why the panic on this one?
Tom Bayes, Rothwell

I'm not worried. I have a full blown gas mask with activated carbon filters. The fabric face masks don't work. The question is, have I the courage to wear the gas mask to work? Will I be arrested in the street by the Police for wearing it for potentially causing panic or distress among my fellow citizens? Why bother spending money and using face masks which are known not to be effective?
Kelvin, Manchester

Let's all take a deep breath here. Let's all wash our hands frequently and use a hand sanitizing gel often. I am not religious, but I know this: we are all born then we live and then die. The being born and dying are not (usually) things we can control. Living is though, and how we choose to live! We do all we can to take care of ourselves and our loved ones, but being afraid of what might happen is not living!
CJ McAuley, Amherstview, Ontario, Canada

I was at school during the Asian Flu of 1957. Classes fell to about a third, and nearly everyone caught it. However, the schools did not close and no one took much notice. If we do have a pandemic, my concern is that communities are no longer cohesive - people do not help one another and society might begin to falter. There is a widespread yet mistaken expectation that technology and government will always ensure our immortality.
John, Horsham

My husband works with the public and we have a four-month-old son, so I'm very worried about him bringing the flu home to us. He has always been diligent about hand-washing, but he is being even more so now. He is also coming home and taking a shower as soon as he steps through our door, and his work clothes go straight into the wash. As for my son and I, we are staying home these days. Nothing is mild when it comes to a baby.
Jennifer Wilson, Houston, USA

We could start by not taking as much notice to the media for trying to instil fear into people. I see this becoming another 'bird flu'; the way to avoid this 'pandemic' is to report logically on what is happening and stop filling the news of words such as 'armageddon'. Stop scaremongering and help by keeping things calm BBC.
Mark P, Farnborough

It is a mistake to think that a new strain of flu is just flu. After years of building up resistance and vaccines, current strains still manage to kill thousands each year. With a new strain of flu there could be little resistance and the death rate could increase 50 fold. Equally well it could have negligible impact. The Spanish Flu was unusual in as much that it killed 50 million mainly healthy people. Until the facts are established we don't know who this new strain is killing. No need for a 'panicdemic' but just take a bit of care.
Alex G, Maidenhead

I think a lot of us just don't get this. It may well be ok for us in the western world as we have the money and resources to cope. But what about the third world already riddled with HIV and other illnesses. In 1918 the Spanish Flu was just part of the reason so many died. I don't think much has changed - it will always be the poor that die.
Hugh, Belfast

There were hundreds, if not thousands of cases (in the USA alone) of murders, children kidnapping, molesting children, wife beating, people shooting people, rapes, police shooting people who looked like crooks, criminals breaking in houses, vehicle deaths and destruction, the war in Iraq still going on and on, etc. With that mind, I take my chances with the swine flu any time.
Foxtrottango1, Rincon, New Mexico

The best way to avoid it is to ignore it completely. Like bird flu and the credit crunch, it is a small problem made large by people wanting to sell newspapers.
Bernie Matthews, Blackwood, Wales

"How can we avoid a swine flu pandemic?" Answer - you can't. I'm not worried about the "swine flu epidemic" so much as the increased 999 calls it will generate. We will be diverted from potentially life-threatening emergencies by panic-stricken idiots who will call for an ambulance because they have a high temperature and a sniffle, despite never having been near anyone who even knows where to find Mexico on a map.
Paul, Fife

I can't believe the way some people are panicking! There is no evidence that this disease is any worse than regular influenza, and regular influenza kills hundreds of thousands worldwide annually. But we don't cancel sports matches or propose quarantining airline passengers during flu season. Please, everyone, get grip on yourselves.
Peter Nelson, Boston MA USA

I am surprised to read how much anti-viral stock we have in the UK compared with other countries. Dare I congratulate the government for doing something well.
James, Sutton

I think many of the people on here fail to understand that our lack of immunity to this strain of flu is the real problem. Unlike the normal flu, which most people have some protection against, this one has the potential to spread quickly and overwhelm our medical systems.
Mathew Righetti, California USA

Will the media stop hyping this up? No-one from the UK has died and far too many people have been interviewed and yet they are not even infected! So really the media should stop making something like this into a major crisis.
Andrew Webb, Nuneaton, UK

It would be wise to shutdown the schools for a week or so in the US. We can just add a week latter in the year as needed. Schools are our must vulnerable location for spreading the flu. Even if it slows it down a few days that could be enough for them to get more information before medical personal are saturated with calls to assist.
Mathew Righetti, California USA

This swine flu could be a stepping stone to a much worse catastrophe H5NI avian flu. Swine flu can be controlled after a new virus vaccine is derived from the virus itself. This then primes the body's immune system to recognise and fight against the virus. The immune system also retains antibodies to a virus after being infected with it, so humans have general immunity to human strains of avian and swine flu. Avian flu strains on the other hand are therefore more dangerous for humans because the human immune system cannot recognise the virus or protect against it.
Jaker, London

First it was the Bird flu and everyone was told that it will wipe out humans, now its the swine flu and there are already a lot of confirmed cases in the world including the UK, does that mean it will easily spread rapidly? and what if the medication there working on isn't produced fast enough? does that mean we are all at great risk? everyone is extremely worried, please update.
Sarah, London

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