The number of confirmed cases, while rapidly growing, is still only a small part of the overall population.

Those who have been positively diagnosed appear to respond quickly and well to Tamiflu and, if anything, don’t get nearly as crook as those unfortunate enough to get the normal “seasonal” flu.

While the symptoms for both are apparently quite similar the good news is that if you are diagnosed with swine flu you get access to a much better class of drugs – not to mention royal treatment when it comes to accessing hospital beds and support services.

Yes, swine flu has killed people overseas.

But – and it is a big but – nobody has died of the virus itself to our

knowledge.

As with almost all strains of influenza, death and severe illness are the result of secondary conditions.

People get pneumonia, serious chest infections and the like which are the actual cause of death.

Those most at risk are the very young and the very old.

These are the ones who have made up the Lion’s share of casualties

overseas.

It would not be unfair to suggest that many of those who have died in the USA and Mexico are as much the victims of inadequate access to modern health care as they are to any particular virus.

We do not have a two-tier health system in the way some countries do.

If you fall critically ill in this country every effort will be made by highly trained and highly skilled people to keep you alive – regardless of whether you are a pensioner or the Prime

Minister.

It is one of the things that makes Australia a great place to live – and also one of the reasons why we have less to fear from diseases such as swine flu in the first place.

We don’t have the slums that incubate endemic diseases.

We also have the will and the ability to intervene quickly and effectively when the first signs of a pandemic appear.