Swine Flu (H1N1) Represents One Essay

China, for example, reports fewer cases than Hong Kong, despite the massive population difference and the high amount of trade between the two. Moreover, China reports only one death from swine flu for its nearly 16,000 cases, which would give it a success rate in treatment better than all other countries in the world save for Germany. China's one reported death is equivalent to the number of reported deaths in the Solomon Islands, St. Kitts and the Cook Islands, among other tiny countries with few cases (Flucount.org, 2009).

It is difficult for citizens and authorities to truly understand the nature of the swine flu epidemic, due to the fact that each different jurisdiction reports its own numbers.This leads to different criteria for measuring and different underlying motivations for reporting. As a result, contentious data and missing data compromise our ability to understand the nature and depth of the swine flu epidemic.

Works Cited:

Best, Joel. (2004). More Damned Lies and Statistics. University of California Press: Berkeley.

Shirek, Jon. (2009). Georgia Won't Test all Type -- a Flu Patients for H1N1 Virus. NBC. Retrieved September 29, 2009 from http://www.11alive.com/news/national/story.aspx?storyid=129763&catid=165

No author. (2009). Swine Flu Count. Flucount.org. Retrieved September 29, 2009 from http://www.flucount.org/.....