This comparison of H1N1 deaths to other causes should help us keep our perspective. . .
-Dustin* at Chart Porn
Actually, I was going to let this one slide. Then it started making the rounds on the Net. And, then, it tried to convince my baby sister.
The chart is telling you that we don't need to worry about swine flu.
This info graphic shows the immense threat of the Swine Flu compared to
other manners of death. . .keep your perspective and
don't allow fear to short-circuit your reasoning.
-Michael Paukner**
Without claiming that the numbers in the chart are inaccurate, the chart is lying to you. Here's why (not including the conclusions this logic gives us about war and violence as important problems):
1. The bar chart does not represent the unusual demographic distribution of the swine flu deaths. Seasonal influenza can kill 500,00 world-wide each year, usually the elderly, very young, and immune compormised. Swine flu deaths are enriched for younger adults and pregnant women.
2. There is a vaccine for swine flu to which some of us might get access. This is a problem we can do something about. Most of the other causes of death on this chart are not preventable.
3. While the current version of swine flu is no more virulent than the seasonal flu right now, the emergence of a more virulent mutant (perhaps as in the 1% of infected people who become seriously ill) is a very real threat, especially with the absence of immunity in younger adults. The larger the reservoir of infection that exists, the more likely such mutations are to occur.
4. The chart is comparing statistics determined by looking at rates of death. The epidemiology of the other causes is well known over long periods of time. We have not yet completed a flu season with swine flu and have no idea of its predicted overall effects (we have not been through the second cycle of infection, which is usually worse than the first). This is an apples and oranges comparison.
The picture is pretty.
*Understanding of economics does not equate to understanding biology. This is also how you get bumped off my RSS feed.
**Check out the Flickr photostream. I have yet to figure out what the artist does not believe.
