<human>: I've heard that the swine flu is a pandemic, but I haven't seen it on the news. What's the truth about this?
<bot>: The truth is that there are many different kinds of pandemics and they all have different definitions. The World Health Organization defines a pandemic as an “epidemic that has spread over a large area and affects a large number of people.” This definition includes both human-to-human transmission (such as with the current H1N1 virus) and animal-to-human transmission.