Sir, – Browsing through recent issues of your newspaper I have been struck by the frequency with which journalists resort to the term “epidemic”.
In addition to its defensible use to describe the spread of infectious diseases, I encountered it in relation to the incidence of a wide range of phenomena, including obesity, farm accidents, self-harm, domestic violence, diabetes, narcolepsy and, most curiously, cruciate ligament injuries. – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN WALSH,
Dublin 6.