My facts were a little wrong. I overestimated the toll that the bird flu has taken thus far on humanity.

As of Oct. 10, 2005, the World Health Organization reports 117 confirmed cases of H5N1 bird flu in humans (please note, there is more than one type of bird flu). So far, only 60 people have died. And while that number appears to be about 50%, you also have to remember that many of these people live in rural areas in countries that don’t have the most modern of medical equipment. They may also have waited until they were quite ill before seeking help, thus increasing the risk of death from this disease.

Yes, I know. In the words of John Donne (yes, I am getting literary), “any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. No, I am not defaming Hemingway. Donne knew all about tolling bells 300 years before Hemingway sat down at his typewriter. But I’m getting way off the subject of avian viruses….

The deaths of the 60 people are sad and tragic. But probably hundreds of millions of birds have been infected with this virus in some of the most populous regions of the world–we’re talking about places that make Manhattan appear like a deserted island. So in perspective, 117 cases out of maybe 1 billion who have been exposed to it? The reality is that right now, people face a very low risk of picking up a case of the bird flu.

And even though the public has been sufficiently primed to expect the worst, now with the news that the 1918 Spanish flu was an avian flu that mutated, it still needs to be put into perspective. The flu epidemics of 1957 and 1968 were also mutated avian flus, but they only caused a slightly higher death toll than regular flu seasons.

Are we all dead yet from the bird flu? No? Good, that’s a relief. From reading some of the news stories that are appearing, it sounds like the pandemic has begun and millions have already succumbed. This sensationalist hysteria is really grating.

Here’s a word of advice. Don’t drink raw chicken or duck blood. Keep the chickens out of your bedroom when you go to sleep. Hint: the vast majority of people who have gotten sick have had exceedingly close contact with infected birds, like dining on raw infected meat teeming with germs, or gulping down blood. Yuck–that’s the next best thing to slitting open one of your own veins and pumping in the virus.

And over the course of two years, only about 150 people have acutally been confirmed with having bird flu. Which seems, at least to me, that it is not highly contagious between bird and human.