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Swine flu is the first flu pandemic of the 21st century, but what do we really know about it? And what is likely to happen next in the ongoing drama of Pandemic H1N1?

IN MID-MARCH, news broke that a new strain of flu virus similar to one seen in pigs was infecting humans in Mexico. By mid-April, confirmed cases started popping up in the US and, slowly but surely, the virus crept around the world. Then eventually, after much speculation, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared a flu pandemic on June 11th. It was the first to be classified as such in 41 years, by which point around 70 countries (including Ireland) had reported new cases of the virus and the infection was spreading within communities.