Most swine flu cases have been mild so far, and the 257 officially reported cases worldwide are just a tiny fraction of those caused each year by seasonal influenza.

That’s left some people questioning the massive public health response and the many warnings and updates about the virus, known scientifically as influenza A(H1N1). One Web site, www.doIhaveswineflu.org, takes you to a page with a simple punch line that reads: Yes. Panic!

But mild doesn’t mean harmless, and a new virus on the global scene is nothing to take lightly, say health officials. And they’re standing by their advice and guidance.

Compared with seasonal influenza, which kills 36,000 each year in the U.S. and several hundred thousand worldwide, H1N1 may not sound like much.

Most cases in the U.S. have not required hospitalization, and only one person has died.

But it’s the unknowns surrounding a newly discovered germ that are troubling. How fast might it spread? How will humans respond with no natural immunity? How will it affect the weakest among us, chiefly the elderly, who rely on vaccines to ward off the seasonal flu but have no protection against this?

If swine flu is similar to seasonal flu strains, there’s no reason to think its numbers couldn’t rival those strains.

“It is saying that the potential is there,” said Kandi Buckland, public health director for the El Paso County Department of Health and Environment, about the level of precautions.

Practically speaking, some guidelines are easier to follow than others. Washing your hands and covering your cough is a piece of cake.

But staying home from work or school for a week or longer – and having your family stay home, too – could be tough for most people.

And plenty of bugs besides the flu could be to blame for certain symptoms.

Dr. John Voth, a primary care physician for Colorado Springs Health Partners, said flu is often recognized by its sudden onset, high fever, aches and a cough. People, he said, claim they suddenly feel as if “they’ve been hit by a truck,” and each cough is painful.

Yet serious colds and other infections can produce any combination of similar symptoms.

Buckland said some people who follow the guidance of public health authorities will likely end up staying home a week with an illness other than the flu, but that’s part of what is involved in containing a new infectious disease.

“At this point, it doesn’t matter if it’s swine, seasonal or something else. Stay home for seven days after onset (of symptoms) or 24 hours after they’ve resolved,” she said.

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Call the writer at 636-0198. Visit the Pikes Peak Health blog at www.pikespeakhealth.freedomblogging.com and The Gazette’s Health page at gazettedev.gazette.com/health.

Lance Armstrong Photo by AP PHOTO