"I think swine flu is very different from a normal flu because I just couldn't get out of bed."

Actually, I'm still here!

It needs to be threat level 6 for a proper pandemic and a the current level of 3 is counted as a "public health emergency for international concern".

24 people were suspected in the UK, 8 have had results returned as negative and the 3 currently in hospital are causing concern.

There is enough Tamiflu for half the population and could be distributed very quickly if necessary.

Alan Johnstone, his shadows and colleagues will be convening after the statement.

Airport have put questioning and screening into place.

They don't know if the standard flu vaccine can offer immunity.

Face masks are given out as routine but it's not seen as necessary in the UK if virus spreads unless you are ill or in direct contact with someone with the virus. Masks only last several hours as when they get wet, the virus can get through.

NHS24 can offer advice to anyone who has been to Mexico and is worried. Good hygiene is a must, including hand washing and covering nose when sneezing etc.

All cases outside of Mexico have not been fatal and unlikely to become so here. Anyone with flu symptoms should go home and contact their doctor.

No travel restrictions will be put into place as yet but situation is changing rapidly and will update as and when necessary. If the alert goes to level 5, travel restrictions will go into place.

Britain and France are the two most prepared countries in the world for a flu pandemic.

I think that's it! ? Now I must go!

WHO Emergency Committee , Doctor who etc, you can form your own jokes.

Hes not saying much about anything much just what has gone on:

* coughs and sneezes spread diseases

* no one out side mexico has died

* carry on as usual

* the country is prepared

*will update parliment if and when necessary

I have a cold, and the "hope its not swine flu" comments wore thin VERY quickly today. i dont have flu, i have an (irritating) cough and snotty nose. grrr.

But what about me?!? I'm not in Britain or France. And the WHO woman left new york at the weekend to return to Geneva - just 15 km from ME! And I've had a horrible chest infection/cough for the last two weeks. It can't be a coincidence. It must be related.

My internet connection keeps failing - I don't think they want us talking about this!

OH NO, I used to have a colleague from Mexico City and we're still facebook friends. I don't stand a chance (sob)

Oh Flowery, it sounds like you have Swine Flu and you should put yourself into quarantine for the rest of your life. I'm so sorry. ?

Don't you wish you had listened to Richard Madelely and built a Millennium cupboard, although it might have all been slightly mouldy by now... Actually, everyone in the world, build a Swine Flu cupboard! Run, run.... Asda will be selling out of bread, bottled water and toilet roll in precisely 3 minutes.

I'm ? at how we have managed to combine a completely serious and fun poking thread in one. That doesn't happen often! (Yes, I know I'm still here... ?)

I too have a cold (had it a good week already). My boss enjoyed telling the team I have a rare form of Gloucester Old Spot pig flu! (I live in Gloucestershire.)

My short, short life ?

Instructions. You might have to tweak a few details, but I'm sure a fallout shelter and a swine flu shelter are broadly similar in concept.

I came into work today with an inbox full of letters from the HPA. We have to order viral swabs, masks and gowns. There will need to be some consensus on how to treat. The very odd patient may be visited at home (they certainly can't come to surgery to infect a whole waiting room full of vulnerable people), but if a pandemic does happen we can't visit everyone - it's not sustainable. During the lasst pandemic (1960s) GPs were doing thirty of forty visits a day - there's no way we could do that now - we could barely do it then. It will be telephone triage plus some kind of antiviral prescription delivery service (they could paint a cross on the door while they're at it). There are very clear guidelines on what to do - which will change as new cases appear - which is comforting. There is a sort of minor anxiety *** hope-it-turns-out -to-be-nothing atmosphere here - we know that it will be hellish if it does turn pandemic - even though we do seem well prepared. Who knows.

(the starred word was c u m btw)

The man in Sale does not have Swine Flu. The 2 in Lanarkshire are still undiagnosed, 8 have been already cleared and the other 13 remain in isolation at home while their symptoms are being monitored. It seems the 2 in Lanarkshire are the only ones still causing concern.

? rache (and other medical people) , it can't be easy having things like this lingering over you.

Does anyone want to buy full CBRN Individual Protective Equipment?

I have several skip storage containers full that I can supply, discount for Hitchers.

Also have a limited supply available in White for your 'Big Day'... Straight from the Ukraine to your door.

On a sligtly more serious note, what size is the flu virus, comparitively?

Rache - do you hate it more now you have kids? Before, I would have shrugged my shoulders and got on with it, but now I actively hate the thought that my work could leave a 3 year old motherless. OK, I know, being overdramatic... but as I've acquired a chronic disease in the last year I feel more vulnerable.

Definitely, Zoay.

This sort of thing wouldn't have bothered me in the slightest before I met MrRache and had the boys. Now I am feeling quite resentful of the burden of responsibility, and I can't quite join in the macho back-slappery bring-it-on-ness about the liklihood of a pandemic.

Rache and Zoay can I ask a dumb question?

How does flu actually kill people? I understand that the speed with which it spreads makes it hard to deal with, but what is it about it that makes it so serious to the individual?

Not R or Z obviously but flu killing "healthy" people is apparently caused by cytokine storm (saw this on House too so it must be true!!)

And how odd do you have to be to get a home visit? Will pencils up the nose and underpants on the head suffice?

I thought it was pneumonia but I'm probably absolutely wrong.

Absolutely not "bring it on here" btw, Rache - I've spent years wondering when we're all about to die in a flu pandemic and really rather not anytime soon, thanks all the same.

Apparently the 2 cases in Lanarkshire have been confirmed as swine flu.

What happens now in a case like that? Obviously they will have shared a flight with others, so what happens there? Is everyone contacted? Bit too close for comfort for me.

Two people in Lanarkshire test positive

Goodness only knows how many people will be panic buying bread and milk in Asda atm - they are bad enough round here when it closes for a bank holiday.

Now confirmed in the UK! Head for the air raid shelters!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8020222.stm

Fark me that's scary. I need to stop reading about flu now as have terrified myself as usual with medical stuff. Will stick my head back in the sand where it belongs.

Smiley, Port Health will have the passenger manifest for all passengers on board the aircraft and will contact them.

Luckily I was in Morissons before this news broke so managed to avoid the stampede 😄

I unfortunately have a cold today, and if I had a pound for every person who asked if I had swine flu, well, I would have had a tenner at least 😄. It is unfortunate it is so local, I can see my red nose and sniffing being very unpopular on the bus tomorrow morning! 😄

Ha! I actually have an air-raid shelter on the back of my house! I don't have much in the way of emergency provisions - do you think a box of Alpen, a nearly-full bottle of Bailey's, a tin of beans and sausage and - for some reason - two bottles of Pernod (which I don't like) will be enough to see us through this International Crisis?

Is anyone else a wee bit worried about this...I know statistically the chances of me or mine catching it are low, but but but...............<retrieves tinfoil hat from under the stairs>

It'd be a good way to get the seat to yourself though ?

Yes, completely. The prospect of a flu pandemic is really frightening. I think it's fair not to panic yet - and the whole sudden "I once went to a Mexican restaurant, could I have it?" thing is ridiculous - but it is scary. I'm just dealing with it by mostly not thinking about it.

Thinking about it, I had noone sitting next to me on the bus this morning, even though it was standing room only! ? It only just dawned on me there that that is probably why!

I say we take off an nuke Lanarkshire from orbit..... It's the only way to sure.

That's it, I'm not panicking at all, but when I think about it I do get a little knot of anxiousness in my stomach. Although that's probably more to do with my mentalist, illogical tendencies, to be fair ?

Everyone, I'm off to stick my head in the sand with Hazel, we'll see you when it's all over!