# 2240
While I'm not a scientist, I am capable of reading for comprehension, and that apparently invalidates me as a desirable demographic for most newspaper publishers today.
Over the weekend, the journal Nature published a study on antibodies isolated from survivors of the 1918 pandemic, some 90 years after exposure to the pandemic virus.
Fascinating stuff, and if you want a serious explanation of this piece, I'd recommend the Revere's take on it from Effect Measure.
Revere sums up the research applications for the current pandemic threat this way.
How much of this is transferable to bird flu, the current pandemic worry, is difficult to say. These antibodies didn't protect against or react with H5 flu viruses so they aren't a therapy for bird flu. But understanding the basic science of influenza virus is always a plus.
Of course, if you read about this study in the newspapers, you'd come away convinced that we were on the verge of a new treatment for bird flu.
1918 pandemic antibodies could be effective against bird flu
Argentina Star
Monday 18th August, 2008
(IANS)
Researchers who isolated antibodies from the elderly survivors of the horrific 1918 flu pandemic, found that they could be equally effecitve against similar outbreaks in future.
Now note, despite the headline, nowhere in this study did it suggest that the antibodies from the 1918 pandemic could be effective against bird flu.
Nowhere.
But that doesn't matter. It just gets in the way of a good story. And as a feature of the IANS (Indian-Asian News Service), this story has been widely reprinted all over the world.
Last week dozens of newspapers and trade journals carried reports of a new, rapid, bird flu test being developed by scientists at Nottingham Trent University in Britain.
An important breakthrough, if successful.
Here is how the Daily Mail covered the story.
Scientists develop new machine which can detect bird flu outbreaks in just TWO hours
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:09 PM on 14th August 2008
British scientists have developed portable technology which can detect bid flu in two hours
British scientists are developing revolutionary technology which can detect outbreaks of bird flu in just two hours, paving the way for a swift end to a potential pandemic.
First, this `new technology' is under development. It is hoped that they will have a working model in DECEMBER 2010.
A fact mentioned near the bottom of this article, but surprisingly, in very few others.
And even if this device works as advertised, there is no reason to believe that it would `pave the way to a swift end to a pandemic'.
Would a rapid test be useful? Yes, very. And it would likely save many lives.
But provide a swift end to a pandemic?
I don't think so.
A week hardly goes by when I don't wince at some piece of `science reporting' in the major media. Sloppy science seems to be perfectly acceptable to many news editors, in fact, I think they prefer it.
Far too often, science reporting today seems to consist of taking press releases and rewording them into news stories.
The important thing seems to be, is it catchy? Does it draw readers? Can you condense it into a 30 second news bite?
Thankfully there are still some news outlets that prize good science reporting. When you read a piece by the likes of Helen Branswell of the Canadian Press, or Mayrn McKenna at CIDRAP, or Maggie Fox at Reuters you can tell the difference right away.
Clear, concise, authoritative.
Unfortunately, they and a small contingent of their equally competent colleagues appear to be badly outnumbered.
