Misleading graphic in the New York Times

In yesterday’s Times, there’s a misleading graphic depicting an “epidemic scorecard” which attempts to put SARS in context of all the other epidemics in the world. A quick glance at the graph gives one the impression that the size of each epidemic’s rectangle is relative to the number of deaths (or cases) associated with that disease. However, a closer look reveals that there’s apparently no such relation: Denge Fever, with 24,000 deaths a year, is about twice the size as Influenza, with 250,000 deaths a year. Tuberculosis and Diarrheal Diseases have about the same number of deaths, but TB is about 1/3 larger. All of which undercuts the point they’re trying to make about SARS relative to these other diseases: SARS, with 353 deaths, is given about 1/2 the space as Yellow Fever which has 100 times as many deaths. (Or 50 times, if you annualize SARS.) Shame on their graphics department for fumbling this one. Thought you might be interested.

— Mike