Was watching something recently, think it was Vox, that seemed to suggest bird flu is widespread now but very mild and so not worth continued alarm. It doesn't help science if we over hype stuff that always ends up being not quite the end of the world after all. But, incentive structures in science funding and the media's if it bleeds it leads mission focus means over hyping is the average.
It also doesn’t help that if you Google “bird flu mortality”, the “featured” answer is 49%, and there is no mention of the fact that the vast majority of recent US cases have been mild.
4 comments