Ten ways we get the odds wrong

[thewayne]

A summary of why we do not always properly perceive risk.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/index.php?term=pto-20071228-000005&print=1

Comments

[deborak]

They are wrong on one point about avian flu. Scientists recently went back and studied remains of those who died in the 1918 pandemic and determined that it was indeed a strain of bird flu that killed Americans.

[quasar273.livejournal.com]

Well, I'd say that's a matter of terminology. Although the 1918 pandemic was later established to have been spread by birds, it was called "swine flu" or "Spanish influenza" at the time (why Spanish? Spain was one of very few European countries not heavily censoring their press due to the war, and so a lot of the early reports were from Spain even though the early cases were much more widespread). I thought it was pretty clear the question about "bird flu" referred to H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza, which indeed has killed 0 Americans. They could have been more precise, but if they used language so fussily that article would probably have not made it into the three (!) different venues where I've read it.