Kerre Woodham: Panic stations

Getting a post-marathon cold in the midst of a world pandemic panic is a risky business. Especially when you're travelling through Hong Kong where authorities are constantly on the qui vive after their country was so badly affected by the bird flu in 2003.

A Hong Kong hotel has been quarantined with no one - not the 100 staff nor the 300 guests - able to leave for seven days after a young Mexican man developed the flu after checking into the Metropark on Thursday.

I suppose you can forgive the Hong Kong authorities for their decisive action given that it was a Chinese doctor, staying in a Hong Kong hotel while he sought treatment for avian flu, who's believed to have been responsible for infecting other guests and allowing the virus to spread worldwide.

Nearly 300 people died in 2003 and Hong Kong's tourism industry suffered. Since then, Hong Kong airport has installed thermal imaging machines through which all passengers must walk.

I desperately tried not to cough or sneeze as I walked past the masked officials at the airport.

On the plane, every snuffle was greeted with a steely glare by fellow passengers and when we landed in Auckland, we were informed by the captain that we would be detained a short while because a couple of passengers had fallen ill during the night flight and New Zealand officials wanted them checked before we could disembark.

Thankfully, we were cleared to leave. The possibility of a devastating pandemic has been dominating headlines around the world but it's hard to take it too seriously even though it's appeared in New Zealand. 176 people dead so far in Mexico, only one death reported outside of Mexico - and there are nearly 7 billion people in the world.

It's not time to hide away in the panic room just yet. Health authorities around the world are caught between a rock and a hard place. They want people to be informed and to take sensible precautions but they don't want to ignite panic.

No matter how soothing the tone and how measured the words, there will always be people who want to believe that the end of the world is nigh. They panic-buy, they hoard, they become shrill in the face of blase reactions from family and friends and they never seem to learn.

The same people who became hysterical over Y2K were also the ones bulk buying Tamiflu during the chicken flu scare and they'll be positively apoplectic now that swine flu is sweeping the planet.

I'm all for being prepared - I've done a couple of civil defence docos and my cupboard is stored with the basics our family will need to keep us alive in the event of a disaster.

But revelling in panic seems like a waste of energy and time. If we want to worry about that which will kill us, why not worry about something as commonplace as booze.

In 2000, ALAC estimated more than 1000 deaths were attributable to alcohol and we're all aware of the stats involving crime and alcohol.

Of course not everyone who drinks will die. And not everyone who gets the flu, be it avian, swine or any other kind, will die, either. A little bit of perspective goes a long way in a pandemic.