HEALTH authorities in the islands continue to do an excellent job walking the fine line that separates complacency and panic in their approach to swine flu.

In the circumstances, neither of those reactions is helpful and both could be potentially dangerous.

With complacency comes a lack of activity and readiness. In that scenario, the public and media ignores the advice coming from government and medical experts and continues as if nothing was amiss.

Any improvements in cough and sneeze hygiene would then pass by the majority of the population and the chances of the influenza type A virus gaining a serious foothold in the island increase.

Businesses would also fail to prepare for the worst, with out-of-date emergency plans left gathering dust until the time for action has passed.

To retain people’s attention, therefore, the authorities must manage to convey some sense of the potential scale and risks of a pandemic. For while there are encouraging signs that the virus is not as life-threatening as at first appeared, no one can be certain what course it will take over the coming months.

One thing is certain: the virus is spreading fast and has now affected more than 50,000 people worldwide. Of those, more than 230 have died – although many had a pre-existing condition.

Doctors and scientists are quickly learning as much as possible about the disease. Guernsey’s director of public health, for example, is heartened to see it affecting mostly people under the age of 45, indicating some natural immunity in the population.

Such room for optimism is balanced by the sobering knowledge that the world is in the early stages of any outbreak. While patients in relatively wealthy countries have coped well, there are fears that less developed countries with poorer health resources and a high prevalence of underlying medical problems will fare worse.

In that light, it is clear that the best advice for islanders is to follow the medical authorities’ lead: keep a close eye on developments and be ready to adapt to changing circumstance – but maintain a healthy sense of perspective.