Superbug or super-influenza: Is our world prepared for the next Spanish-flu-like pandemic?

From Wikipedia: Avian influenza, sometimes Avian flu, and commonly Bird flu refers to “influenza caused by viruses adapted to birds. Influenza A virus H5N1 is a subtype of the Influenza A virus which can cause illness in humans and many other animal species. In 2003, world-renowned virologist Robert Webster published an article titled “The world is teetering on the edge of a pandemic that could kill a large fraction of the human population.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avian_flu

The outbreak of a new strain of influenza virus in March and April of 2009 is infecting many people in Mexico City, other regions of Mexico and parts of the United States. There have been over 1,000 suspected cases. Because it is not possible to confirm every one of such cases as being caused by an influenza virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) refers to them collectively as influenza-like illnesses (ILI). The cases are characterized by severe influenza-like symptoms, followed by pneumonia, which has, in some Mexican cases, resulted in death. The new strain is derived in part from human influenzavirus A (subtype H1N1), and in part from several strains of influenza virus usually found only in swine. In April both the WHO and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) expressed serious concerns about this novel strain, because it apparently transmits from human to human, has had a relatively high mortality rate in Mexico, and because it has the potential to become a flu pandemic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_swine_flu_outbreak

Is Mexico and a few US states just the beginning? What would happen if this influenza virus starts spreading around the world on a large scale? Can we contain it if we simply stop public life with everyone but a few critical people staying at home?