Epidemic and pandemic are technical terms used by science and the medical profession to mean specific things, and they are not related to "how scared you should be". That is the business of the media, and it is the business of fools to get into high moral dudgeon over it.
Epidemic is in contrast with endemic, for example
Endemic is when a disease is stable in a population. It doesn't matter whether the incidence is rare, such as bubonic plague today, or common, such as malaria, if the incidence isn't changing in a population over time, it is endemic.
An epidemic is when the incidence is increasing sharply over time. It is irrelevant whether there is still overall a low incidence or high incidence, if it is increasing sharply it is an epidemic. It is also irrelevant how dangerous the disease is. It can be totally lethal or have absolutely no lethality, it is just a description of it's growth rate. Since there were no cases of Swine flu two years ago and now the UK has over a thousand cases, it is an epidemic.
A Pandemic is an epidemic that is global scope, or at least very widespread. Since Swine Flu incidence is reported to be growing in UK, USA, Japan and others, it can be said to not be a localised epidemic, and so a pandemic.
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"Enemy submarines are to be called U-Boats. The term submarine is to be reserved for Allied under water vessels. U-Boats are those dastardly villains who sink our ships, while submarines are those gallant and noble craft which sink theirs." Winston Churchill
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