No. You've got a cold. Deal with it. Start worrying next year, when experts predict avian flu may well have reached our shores. According to Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer, an epidemic is inevitable, with deaths of up to 50,000 predicted in the UK.

How will I get it?

Not from eating chicken, nor from a fellow human - unless the virus mutates. You'll have to come into close contact with an infected animal (it's not just birds) to be hit.

How will I know?

There is no widely available test but look out for fever, cough, sore throat, muscle aches, conjunctivitis and, in severe cases, severe breathing problems and pneumonia. Flu symptoms, basically.

And then what?

Antiviral drugs are sometimes effective in both preventing and treating the disease. Oseltamivir (commercially known as Tamiflu) and zanamivir (commercially known as Relenza) can reduce the severity and the duration of any illnesses that are caused by seasonal influenza.