With the World Health Organisation on the brink of declaring swine flu an official pandemic, Keiji Fukuda, the WHO's interim director general for health, safety and the environment has told Time Magazine that the fallout could be devastating with panic setting in and the "worried well" pouring into hospitals even when there's nothing wrong with them, sucking up limited resources from patients who are actually sick from the virus.

As if that's not bad enough, there are reports of warnings from the Australian Crime Commission that organized crime syndicates could cash in on the pandemic with fraud, robbery and a black market in bootleg medicine. The Commission warned: "Criminal groups may also seek to infiltrate legitimate markets such as transport, finance and government sectors to help facilitate criminal activity and confuse the line between their illegal and legal activities."

Given that the number of swine flu cases in Australia might push the WHO into declaring a pandemic, and given that the state of Victoria has been placed in the same category of swine flu threat as Mexico and the US, it's a warning that should be heeded around the world. The rise in cases of swine flu has raised eyebrows about the cleanliness of health centres across the world. It has also seen the number of clinical negligence cases rise steadily at the same time