A PUBLIC health expert has urged members of the public not to worry unduly about swine flu – because it is not that easy to catch.

Dr Sue Bennett, director of the Dorset and Somerset Health Protection Unit, said: “Swine flu will not easily pass from person to person.

“You need close and prolonged contact to catch swine flu, and that involves having face to face contact with someone for an hour or more and at a distance of one metre or less.”

She explained: “Most of the transmission of swine flu in the UK has occurred in family groups or schools because that is where very close contact of this kind takes place.”

More cases of suspected swine flu are being seen locally, but laboratory testing is no longer taking place to confirm the diagnosis.

Dr Bennett said: “We do know that there are a number of viruses currently circulating in the local population apart from swine flu. If you have no fever, or just a low temperature and symptoms of a cold or sore throat, just treat yourself at home in the usual way.”

She stressed that the evidence so far showed that swine flu itself was no more serious than the seasonal flu that the country experiences each winter.

“The vast majority of people infected with the virus will make a full recovery within a week and some get better within a few days,” she said.

“As with seasonal flu, anyone with a chronic health problem such as asthma, diabetes or heart disease is at more risk than the average person.”

Symptoms of swine flu include a high temperature (38 degrees plus) and two or more of the following: headache, cough, sore throat, streaming nose, general aches and pains. Anyone affected should contact their GP surgery by telephone and not go to the surgery or hospital emergency department.