Jinn of Quality and Risk

A reader from Sweden comments on the relative death rates of SARS (4-20%, depending on who you believe and how you count) and normal flu (0.4%) and correctly stresses that the real danger is in how many people contract SARS and how fast it might spread. The latest news is that SARS appears to be contained in Vietnam, and several countries managed to quarantine vectors soon after landing, before they could infect others.

Death by flu is a greater risk. A normal Swedish flu ... kills 4,500 people yearly. [Out of 9 million people in Sweden] 10-15% get infected. ... Gives one some perspective. Indeed. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) only 3 SARS cases have been reported in Sweden, and 2 of those have already recovered.

Here is specific, recent data from WHO, in their 2003-Apr-28 SARS report: the cumulative world-wide number of cases (since 2002-Nov-01) is 5050; only seven countries report local chains of transmission; so far, 321 people have died of SARS, 2342 have recovered -- hence a 13.7% death rate. The death rate in Hong Kong is higher, at 19.4% -- and Canada has experienced a 23.4% death rate. One would expect even higher numbers to come out of mainland China in coming weeks/months, if the Communist regime chooses to tell the truth.

There is no need to panic, less so than when hearing about the normal flu. One would hope that good journalists will provide reasoned perspective on relative risks, as well as insight into the flu — e.g. how primitive, unsanitary conditions in Chinese farms allow new dangerous viruses to mutate and jump between pigs, poultry, and humans every year. 

The Guardian: You are more likely to die from influenza, malaria or even by falling down the stairs at home. But that hasn't stopped the fear of SARS escalating out of all proportion to the risks. SARS may have killed 320 times since last November. In that period of time, tens of thousands have died from the standard flu and pneumonia. Meanwhile, malaria kills a child every 30 seconds in Africa. The hidden, terrible story of malaria is that these children are murdered by the irrational environmentalist opposition to the use of DDT in fighting malaria. Why "murdered"? Thanks to the systematic use of DDT after WW II, the number of malaria cases in Italy (to pick an example) dropped from 411,602 in 1945 to only 37 in 1968. That's why one can say with certainty that the millions of children dying of malaria every year are the victims of a mass-murder performed in the name of environmentalist dogma.

See also: Mosquitoes with malaria in the US (2002-Oct-10)
Silent Spring vs mankind (2002-Sep-27)
Environmentalism and malaria vs man (2002-Jun-13) 

NYT: Dragon images have been found on the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, on scrolls from China, in Egyptian hieroglyphs and Ethiopian sketches, on the prows of Viking ships, in bas relief on Aztec temples, on cliffs above the Mississippi River and even on bones carved by Inuits in climates where no reptile could live. ... In An Instinct for Dragons (Routledge, 2000), Dr. David E. Jones, a professor of anthropology at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, posits a biological explanation that jibes with the Jungian notion of unconscious collective fears. He argues that the dragon image, fermented in the primal soup of man's first nightmares, is a composite of the carnivores who fed on human ancestors when they were tree-dwelling monkeys: the pythons, the big cats and the raptors. Professor Jones was struck by the idea, he said, while reading about the three-alarm calls of the vervet monkey. The first, for leopards, makes them leap for the treetops. The second, for eagles, makes them duck to low branches, and the third, for snakes, makes them jump. One should note that in China dragons are helpful creatures associated with strength, good fortune, wisdom, and longevity. 

Genetic manipulation and engineering could allow us to cancer-proof ourselves, when we identify the source of the resistance to cancer in these mice. Research scientists at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina have been able to breed a cancer-proof mouse. The lucky new finds, some 700 cancer-proof mice, have the ability to destroy numerous different kinds of cancer cells in their bodies ... the body's innate immune system attacks the tumor cells and ruptures them with neutrophils and macrophages. ... the power of these mice to resist cancer seems to be unlimited and as well, a genetic trait able to be passed down to further generations... [New Scientist via /.]