Flu pandemics spark something in us that’s not to be sneezed at

The very need to popularise the concept of a pandemic reflects our exhaustion with mere epidemics, be they of obesity, bullying or binge-drinking. A new term is required to achieve the level of anxiety that the doom-mongers seek to foster around flu

BY the time you read this, it is entirely possible I will have expired in a fit of sneezing. If so, farewell. The very high probability is that I won’t, however.

Frankly, you don’t have to be an epidemiologist or a virologist (or any kind of ologist) to question some of the claims being made about the recent outbreak of swine fever. “120m might die,” cry some of the headlines. The subtext is clear: be afraid, be very afraid.