When we are consistently told that we are faced by an extraordinary viral threat that may strike down 25 per cent of the population, that people will be quarantined in their homes and should consider stockpiling food and antivirals, that 10 million doses of vaccine will be produced but that it may take three months, and confronted by headlines like "Killer Flu is Running Wild", rationality is very quickly thrown out the window and replaced by emotion.

Further, when we are told that there is no magic cure, confidence in medical science and the government rapidly evaporates. It would also seem that most people are highly sceptical about government claims that it will protect them if a pandemic crisis does emerge. In consequence they fall back on their own resources and place self and family first.

No one disputes that governments should not follow a policy of active caution and plan for a possible pandemic, but we need to be convinced that we haven't over-reacted, that authorities understand how people see such threats, and how government policies may impact on their lives. Critically, we also need to know more about the communicability of fear and how ordinary people react to pandemic threats both real and constructed.

One of the great ironies of 21st century life is that we seem to be more moved by the tempest than the gentle rain and what might be, rather than what is.

Swine flu is important, but where is the widespread public interest in the dengue epidemic in North Queensland that has so far produced more than 1,200 cases, or the thousands of whooping cough cases in NSW?

Peter Curson is professor of population and security at the Centre for International Security Studies, University of Sydney, and emeritus professor of medical geography at Macquarie University, Sydney.

Contact: Professor Peter Curson

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