Indonesia now has the worlds highest amount of bird flu deaths after two teenagers died, bringing the country’s total to forty-four. Local laboratories confirm that a boy of sixteen who died on Monday and a girl of seventeen who died on Tuesday had both fallen victim to the deadly H5N1 virus. Vietnam is next on the list with forty-two deaths from the lethal avian strain, although no one has died from it since the beginning of 2006.

Sad though it is, it needs to be put in perspective lest TheSlant fall pray to the sort of scaremongering that beset our beloved tabloids a few months ago. Here are some Indonesian, some death and some chicken related statistics for you to ogle over while you consider just how much of a twist to get your knickers in over bird flu.

Estimated amount of chickens in Indonesia - 2 Billion.
Indonesian Population - 242 Million
Life Expectancy in Indonesia - 69.7 Years.
Total Amount of reported bird flu cases - 60.
Total amount of world bird flu cases in the last twelve months - Approx 250.
World deaths from Malaria - Approx 1 Million.
World deaths from TB - Approx 1.7 Million (and a new, drug resistant, strain has just appeared in South Africa).

Not to say there isn’t a danger that bird flu might, possibly, maybe mutate to a version that can jump from human to human. There is, but the media seems to be making a lot of fuss about a maybe when there are far more things out there that are definitely killing people.

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Keywords: Bird flu, Birds, Flu, Indonesia, Scaremongering, Stats, Vietnam