WE are relieved the six-year-old who returned from Mexico with swine flu has made a full recovery.

She is reported to be the youngest UK victim of the illness, but doctors have said she will be absolutely fine.

The parents did the right thing in keeping her at home and called the NHS Direct hotline as soon as she showed the tell-tale symptoms.

It was perhaps only a matter of time before the bug reached Oxfordshire. And, it’s fair to say, we can expect further cases in the coming months.

In this case, the primary care trust is confident no other children will have been infected, even though the youngster returned to school for one day after her holiday.

Trust bosses have pointed to patient confidentiality and have refused to say where the girl went to school.

Surely, this is counterproductive?

We now have a situation where parents of children at every primary school in the county will be left pondering.

Nobody needs to know the name and shoe size of the youngster, but parents, pupils and staff deserve to be treated with respect – and that means giving full information.

Heresay and rumour do not help to keep a lid on hysteria. They only serve to fuel wider panic.

The media has been blamed for building hysteria around the swine flu outbreak.

But there is a genuine uncertainty about how hard this pandemic will impact on our communities. What people need is peace of mind and that will only come with facts.