Thursday, May. 17, 2007

Numbers

TRAVEL

19 trillion Frequent-flyer miles awarded by U.S. airlines in the past 25 years, enough to circle the globe 760 million times

14 trillion Miles that passengers have yet to redeem

RELIGION

64% Percentage of the Brazilian population that is Catholic; it was 74% a decade ago

17% Percentage of Evangelicals in the population; that's up from 11% a decade ago

BREAST CANCER

--4 Percentage-point drop in women age 40 and older who reported having a mammogram in the previous two years; the percentage fell from 70% of women asked in 2000 to 66% of women asked in 2005

28% Increase in spending on breast-cancer research by the National Cancer Institute over the same five years; total spending on breast- cancer research topped $560 million in 2005

BAD MEDICINE

275 Patients infected with hepatitis C virus by Spanish anesthesiologist Juan Maeso, who injected them with the needle he used to inject himself with morphine

1,933 Years in prison Maeso was sentenced to serve by justices of a Valencia regional court--seven years for each patient he infected and eight for each who died. He must also pay a fine of $1.36 million

Sources: New York Times (2); AFP (2); USA Today; National Cancer Institute; Guardian (2)