It all started in Mexico where there have been more than 20 confirmed deaths, with around 1,600 more people believed to be infected.

Governments around the world are hurrying to contain the spread of the H1N1 or "swine flu" virus after outbreaks were reported in Mexico, the US and Canada.

In Europe, health ministers called for an urgent meeting as one case of H1N1 was confirmed in Spain.

And more than 11 countries are looking into suspected infections, including New Zealand where 10 students have been held in quarantine. They returned from a trip to Mexico and are believed to be carrying the virus.

The UN has warned that the virus has the potential to become a pandemic, but said the world was better prepared than ever to deal with the threat.

Is the threat as serious as it seems? Is this the pandemic that could wipe out half of the world's population? Or is it a worldwide panic exacerbated by the media?

Inside Story presenter Kamahl Santamaria is joined by Dr. Hassan El-Bushra, a regional advisor for emerging diseases at the World Health Organisation, Dr. Abdel-Hady Mesbah, a professor of immunology at Cairo University and a fellow of the American Immunology Society, and Roger Highfield, an award-winning science journalist and editor of New Scientist magazine.

This episode of Inside Story aired from Monday, April 27, 2009.