The swine flu that emerged in Mexico this past April has spread to 177 countries, becoming a new challenge for Taiwan's public health and medical systems. (Jimmy Lin)

A new influenza virus, H1N1, has spread to 177 countries in under six months since its emergence in Mexico in April, causing more than 3,000 deaths. Taiwan is in full combat mode: as of September 21, the "novel H1N1 flu" had claimed 17 lives, and 271 people have been hospitalized for critical illness.

The media have been closely monitoring the progress of the disease since July 30, when the first person died of novel H1N1 in Taiwan. Public health expert and former Department of Health (DOH) minister Chen Chien-jen estimates that by the end of the peak autumn flu season (October), "Perhaps a third of all people in Taiwan may catch novel H1N1, which could mean 7,000 deaths based on a mortality rate of one in 1000."

Media attention and experts' dire warnings have reawakened memories of SARS among Taiwan's public, giving rise to a nameless dread at the very mention of this flu.

In the last century there were three major flu pandemics: the Spanish Flu of 1918 (H1N1), believed to have killed over 50 million globally; the Asian Flu of 1957 (H2N2), which caused between 1 and 4 million deaths; and 1968's Hong Kong Flu (H3N2), which took 750,000 lives in Asia. Now, after a 40-year lull, a new, different virus has emerged. With better preventive measures, health care standards, and awareness of personal hygiene and nutrition nowadays, will history repeat itself? Is there a basis for public fear of H1N1? Many questions await answers.