CORPORAL Jones would have been in his element. “Don’t Panic!”, he’d have been shouting, while rushing around doing exactly that. That is always the danger of any don’t panic message: it instantly makes us all start to worry.

But while the swine flu situation is clearly serious, it is not at this stage something that should cause extreme alarm.

Experts suspect it may have killed more than 100 people in Mexico: though how many of those deaths are genuinely the result of this new strain of flu has yet to be established.

Cases have also been found in Canada, the US and Spain. Two cases have now been confirmed in Scotland and a further 14 cases were being investigated throughout the UK. A man in Northampton who had complained of feeling unwell after returning from Mexico has been cleared of having the disease.

There was no suggestion of any cases in our area as we went to press. Clearly, however, this is a virus that is spreading. Unlike bird flu, it does appear that it can be transmitted through coughing and sneezing.

At the moment, the alert level has not been raised. Should that change, local public health bosses stress they have stocks of antiviral drugs, and “robust pandemic flu” plans in place.

They have issued guidance to GPs, hospitals and health professionals across our region, advising them exactly what to in the case of patients who have returned from countries affected by swine flu who have flu-like symptoms.

The key thing is to stop the virus spreading. That is why health bosses have urged anyone who fears they may have swine flu – also known as Mexican flu – NOT to visit their doctor. Sitting in a doctor’s surgery coughing and sneezing is the perfect way to pass the virus on to others. Instead, the advice is to phone your surgery.

There is a simple series of questions that can be asked to ascertain whether your symptoms could be swine flu. If you have not been to Mexico, New York, Texas or California in the last seven days, the chances are that they almost certainly won’t be.