Swine flu. So last month, isn't it? Oh, there was a vicarious thrill at first, to think that a deadly pandemic had finally started, but the British public can see through a scare story a mile away. All that grim reaper hype was fun for a while - like the arrival of new celebrity - but we knew we'd be fine.

When we heard that the only deaths were a few Mexican peasants, we gave a collective shrug: this is not our problem. Nobody has died apart from a few foreigners. Why, even those Brits who brought it home just had mild symptoms. Why make a fuss? Just overexcited health staff keen to test emergency planning procedures, we thought; just another scare whipped up by the media. I bet most of us chucked our government swine flu leaflet away as junk mail.

But influenza H1N1 isn't last season's Gucci handbag. It hasn't gone away. Two otherwise healthy people in the UK have fallen gravely ill and are in intensive care. Two other people, suffering from other underlying health issues, are also rated as critically ill in hospital in Scotland. In New York the first person not suffering from any other condition has died. None of these individuals has travelled from Mexico, or had contact with each other, or with other known cases.

In other words, something's up. Albeit mild in the main, the virus is spreading relentlessly. The total of cases in the UK passed 400 yesterday. Another 18 people were confirmed with the flu in England; in Scotland there were 23 new cases, including a hospital nurse from an intensive care unit.

In some towns, large clusters are developing, and schools are shutting. Those in health planning will tell you that they are working full-time on swine flu; that there are grave concerns that by the time autumn comes, when the virus has extended even farther into the community, it may have evolved into something considerably more dangerous.

The authorities expect the number of cases to increase “significantly” in the next couple of weeks and acknowledge that their containment strategy may have to change.

Up to now, we've treated the disease as a form of entertainment; a Hollywood plot. We've reacted, in other words, like thoughtless, cynical consumers. Arrogant to a fault, we really believe we are untouchable masters of the biological universe. Of course there will be medicines to keep us safe! Party on!

But wouldn't it be ironic if swine flu kills in part because it is that most old-fashioned, unfamilar enemy: a slow-motion event, one that terminally confuses a society addicted to constant change and bored by anything that hangs around for longer than 24 hours?

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