Well, no, of course, it isn’t the pigs themselves who are lying, and I should probably feel guilty about adding to their bad press, but pigs have had plenty of air-time already on this blog and at least this time the post is about humans dying, not – at least not directly – about pigs being slaughtered.
Looking around the web, swine ‘flu is causing all sorts of reactions, from panic, to ridicule. It’s clearly thought to be important by many, as this screen shot from the BBC site indicates:
But the way a news story is reported plays a huge part in how people perceive it. There’s an interesting piece on the BBC site today about how statistics are quoted depending on the agenda of the writer or the publication. The title: How one in 1,000 can equal 50% just about says it all.
Current opinion seems to be that the ‘hamdemic’, as it’s been nicknamed, is not as serious as the avian ‘flu of recent years. And looking at WHO statistics for bird ‘flu we find there’s been a total of just 257 deaths since 2003.
In contrast, in a typical ‘flu season, in the U.S.A., between 5% and 20% of the population becomes ill and 36,000 people die. Round the world, possibly half a million deaths a year are attributable to “ordinary ‘flu”. However sad each individual swine-‘flu-associated death is for the family and friends, and however worrying the speed at which the virus seems to have spread, it might not warrant the blind panic with which some people are greeting it.
As a closing word, a little something I saw on a reddit commentary: “Swine flu? I guess pigs can fly.”
don't confuse the narrator 