Swine flu threat - Vigilance is essential

THIS is not a time of cheering news, of sunny, optimistic days on which the sun never sets.

The prospect of a flu pandemic will do little to lift that mood.

It has forced governments to prepare measures to control the virus that has killed more than 140 people in Mexico and spread to the US, New Zealand and Europe, and may have reached Ireland.

Scientists warn such a pandemic is long overdue. And, as if the world economy was not struggling enough, shares and oil prices fell in Asia and Europe. Travel and leisure stocks fell sharply, whereas makers of drugs and vaccines advanced.

Already life in Mexico’s cities has slowed dramatically as schools have been closed.

We have almost a cultural abhorrence of going to the doctor but in these circumstances nothing less than immediate action is appropriate. After all, a lot more than an individual’s health is at stake.