Swine Flu Hype
April 30,2009 
By Ben Cohen
Ben Goldacre doesn't know whether the latest virus outbreak is worth getting excited about:
All people have done is raise the possibility of things really
kicking off, and they are right to do so, but we don't have brilliantly
accurate information. Someone has said that up to 40% of the world
could be infected. Is that scaremongering? Well it's high, and I'm sure
it's a bit of a guess, but maybe up to 40% could be. Annoying, isn't
it, not to know.
Someone has said 120 million could die. Well I
suppose they could: I'm sure it was done on the back of an envelope, by
guessing how many would be infected, and what proportion would die, but
I don't think anyone's pretending otherwise.
By Ben Cohen
Ben Goldacre doesn't know whether the latest virus outbreak is worth getting excited about:
All people have done is raise the possibility of things really
kicking off, and they are right to do so, but we don't have brilliantly
accurate information. Someone has said that up to 40% of the world
could be infected. Is that scaremongering? Well it's high, and I'm sure
it's a bit of a guess, but maybe up to 40% could be. Annoying, isn't
it, not to know.
kicking off, and they are right to do so, but we don't have brilliantly
accurate information. Someone has said that up to 40% of the world
could be infected. Is that scaremongering? Well it's high, and I'm sure
it's a bit of a guess, but maybe up to 40% could be. Annoying, isn't
it, not to know.
Someone has said 120 million could die. Well I
suppose they could: I'm sure it was done on the back of an envelope, by
guessing how many would be infected, and what proportion would die, but
I don't think anyone's pretending otherwise.