The overwhelming majority of cases worldwide are like this. But some are horribly severe. Experts say about half of the deaths were people who otherwise were healthy.

On Thursday, the World Health Organization declared a full-blown flu pandemic — the first since 1968. According to news reports, WHO's director general, Dr. Margaret Chan, believes the world actually has been in a pandemic for a while now. Just look at the figures: 25,288 reported cases across 73 counties, with 139 deaths.

And, as our doctor made clear to us, the number of reported cases is far less than the number of actual cases. My son's test, for instance, was not sent to a state lab for confirmation. The labs are too busy.

So why was the WHO so reluctant to declare a pandemic? One official told ABC News it was because of worries people, and governments, would panic — joining the extreme elements of that first camp. It's that gene deficiency.

But a pandemic declaration accelerates production of a vaccine in case a worse flu emerges in the fall.

My 18-year-old doesn't worry much about that. He now has some immunity.

Neither does my 6-year-old son, who also caught the illness. He doesn't care much about impressing chicks. He just wants to get better before his birthday next week.

Jay Evensen is editor of the Deseret News edito?rial page. E-mail: even@desnews.com. Visit his blog at deseretnews.com/blogs.