Dog Flu Doesn’t Add Up

Rob Bowen emailed me recently to point out an amazing feat of numeracy on the part of the news agency Associated Press. The company’s news gets wired round the world to countless media outlets from Bangkok to Bangor, so you’d think they’d at least check that their percentages add up.

Bowen quotes from a recent item on canine flu:

“20% of infected dogs show no symptoms, 80% have only mild symptoms, and 5 to 8% die.”

That’s an awful lot of dogs however you look at it.