What Are The Odds of Certain Bad Things Happening?

http://health.msn.com/health-topics/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=100254642&imageindex=1&from=en-us_msnhp>1=36010

The rational mind sometimes has trouble with rational facts. We know the odds of being struck by lightningor attacked by a shark are at least one in a million, but still we tiptoe around our fears. At the end of the day—the very end of the day—a fate that is commonly dreaded may actually be a very uncommon way to go.

SHARKS:
By now you’ve probably seen enough nature shows to know that sharks, even of the “man-eating” variety, are demonized and their threat overstated. Still, there are all those teeth. (How many do they have?) And the menacing music. (Remember the "Jaws" movie theme?)

If staying out of the ocean is not an option, you can decrease the odds of a shark attack by increasing your awareness of their feeding habits (e.g., avoid swimming in the morning and at twilight; be cautious between sandbars; never swim in a seal costume). What else should you do? The increase in human population, and therefore in ocean bathers, is expected to influence a gradual uptick in shark attacks; however, a declining shark population plays a part in keeping the number of unprovoked attacks close to the global average of 63 per year.

Just four fatalities resulted from the 59 unprovoked attacks in 2008, which is on par with the low percentage of deaths recorded by the International Shark Attack File. People kill millions of sharks each year.

AIRPLANE CRASH:
It’s often said that driving in a car is more dangerous than flying in an airplane. Seldom told is what a huge margin there really is between the two. Typical car travelers stand a 1 in 5,000 chance of being in a fatal wreck, whereas the odds for air travelers are far less likely. To maintain a favorable ratio, stick with reputable, commercial airlines on routine flight patterns. The odds plummet to 1 in 750,000—14 times more risky—on small, private flights like the island-hoppers serving vacationers in warm climates.

SPIDER BITE:
You might not like any kind of spider, but just two species in the U.S.—the black widow and the brown recluse (aka violin or fiddleback spider)—are responsible for most problems any more serious than an annoying bug bite. Even this notorious spider is way less dangerous to a healthy human adult than she is to her mate.

Significant research is lacking, but one study back in 1963 found that 63 people had died of complications from a black widow bite between 1950 and 1959. Experts say there has not been a single confirmed death associated with the brown recluse. Here are some symptoms of spider bites. First aid for a venomous spider bite involves cleaning and cooling the puncture point and slowing the flow of venom.

LIGHTNING STRIKE:
There’s lightning in every one of the 100,000 thunderstorms that rumble over the U.S. annually, and the National Weather Service (NWS) estimates that cloud-to-ground lightning strikes occur approximately 25 million times each year. Over the past 30 years, an average of 58 people have been killed annually. That pans out to a 0.0000023 percent chance that one of those 25 million bolts will strike you dead.

Still, with 34 fatalities in 2009, the NWS calls lightning “the underrated killer” and leads its lightning-safety measures with this motto: When thunder roars, go indoors. Florida has twice the lightning casualties of any other state, a fact attributable to the Sunshine State’s vulnerability to severe weather, and men are statistically far more likely to be struck. How much more? It’s worth noting that men are also more likely to stand on mountain tops, work outdoors or refuse to leave the golf course in a storm.

SNAKE BITE:
So fearful are people of snakes that the legless reptile is a timeless symbol of evil. Yes, the venom of some snakes (rattlesnakes,water moccasins,coral snakes) can kill, and a few constrictors (reticulated python,green anaconda) are big enough to put the squeeze on a full-grown person, restricting the flow of air and blood. And either of those fates would be pretty evil, but neither occurs very often here in the U.S.

It’s extremely rare to be killed by a constrictor, and only a few ill-advised owners of pythons and anacondas have bucked the odds. Nearly 8,000 people are bitten by venomous snakes here annually but, thanks to first aid and the wide availability of antivenin, all but about a dozen survive. According to reported data, 95 percent of snake bites are on the hands or feet, 40 percent of which occur while trying to capture or handle the snake. Don’t do this.

HOUSE FIRE:
Nationwide campaigns for fire-safety awareness, together with laws requiring residential smoke detectors, have halved the number of house-fire fatalities in the United States. Prior to the mid-1980s, an average of 5,000 lives were claimed by residential fires every year; today, the number is closer to 2,500. Beyond practicing good fire prevention, every household should note the odds associated with smokers and drinkers.

These culprits are far and away the leading cause of house fires, and more than 40 percent of adults killed are found to have been under the influence of alcohol.

ELECTROCUTION:
Our modern lives are so dependent on electricity that we sometimes forget they can be ended by it, too. Though normal household current is certainly lethal, the rate of fatal electrocutions at home remains low among families that practice good home safety. It’s in the workplace that electrical hazards run highest—as do the fatality rates.

According to the National Traumatic Occupational Fatalities surveillance system, electrocution is a leading cause of death among workers and accounts for a rounded average of 400 fatalities each year. Linemen and construction laborers are at the highest risk, with a notable spike among younger, less-experienced workers.

FOOD BORNE-ILLNESS:
Chances are high that you will at some point acquire a food-borne illness that causes these highly uncomfortable symptoms. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that food-borne diseases cause approximately 76 million illnesses in the U.S. every year. But just a fraction of them result in hospitalizations (325,000, or 0.004 percent), and a much smaller fraction in fatalities (5,000, or 0.00006 percent). While the likelihood of serious complications for even the most common pathogens is unknown, a Salmonella infection isn’t likely to be fatal unless the patient has a pre-existing health condition or weakened immune system. E. coli, a bacterial threat in the U.S. since 1982, causes a life-threatening condition in 3 percent to 5 percent of cases. Visit foodsafety.gov for outbreak alerts and advice on how to shop, cook and eat safely.

DROWNING:
Drowning represents a truly universal fear, and the concern is warranted most among two particular groups: the young and the drunk. According to the CDC, of all children ages 1 to 4 who died in the sample year (2005), 30 percent died from drowning. Most were here, and, sadly, out of their parents’ sight for no more than five minutes. Men are four times more likely to drown than women, and alcohol intoxication is a contributing factor in half of all drowned adolescent males (and in most boating-related fatalities). A total of 3,582 people drowned unintentionally in 2005, averaging 10 per day.

HIT BY TRAIN:
City dwellers may not have much concern about trains, but those in rural areas know what it’s like having locomotives roaring through their neighborhoods and town centers every day. Perilously, thousands of the nation’s 250,000 railroad crossings have no lights or gates to caution walkers and drivers. Based on statistics by the Federal Railroad Administration, an average of 355 people per year are killed at crossings, or nearly one every day. When approaching a railroad crossing on foot or in a car, look both ways, lower the music and never, ever try to beat a train across the tracks.
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So what do you think of the article? Anything surprise you?

Have any of these things happened to you or anyone you know/knew if they died?

i love going on airplanes. especially looking out of the window. everything looks amazing from the height of an airplane.

at the House Fires. Straight Edge pays again!

The Sexy Vixen wrote:: i love going on airplanes. especially looking out of the window. everything looks amazing from the height of an airplane.

Me too.

So cool!

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