Few panic catching cold (6)
I believe the answer is:
scarce
'few' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'panic catching cold' is the wordplay.
'panic' becomes 'scare' (synonyms).
'catching' indicates putting letters inside.
'cold' becomes 'c' (eg on taps).
'scare' enclosing 'c' is 'SCARCE'.
(Other definitions for scarce that I've seen before include "Not often found" , "Uncommon" , "Wanting" , "Falling short of demand" , "Common? Definitely not" .)