http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PEK313050.htm
I have nothing to add other than obviously standards are slipping at Reuters and they now employ illiterates.
Considering the article is saying that the article is basically saying that the flu might be escaping detection, a few dictionaries claim that “unsighted” is an appropriate word to use in that context.
Granted I’d have used “unseen” or “undetected”, but I don’t think they were trying to say anything like “uncited” (which, I am assuming, is what you were reading into it).
And, there’s a corrected headline:
Which kind of proves I was right and they realised their mistake. But rather ruins the thread… 
For anyone still interested; the original headline stated that Chinese bird flu cases may be going “unsighted”. Which I suppose could be a clumsy way of saying “unseen”, but that’s not what the story was saying. They meant uncited, unrecorded. “the virus might be going undetected or unreported”
Putting “Uncited” in the headline strikes me as even worse usage; it is not a synonym for “unreported.” TellMeI’mNotCrazy is entirely correct.
I believe “unsighted” is telegraphese, and was probably in the original wire service report which someone failed to correct before publishing it on the Website. Bad editing, which appears to be more and more common.
Perhaps the original article was in Cantonese and merely ‘babblefished’ into engrish?
I’m not convinced you’re right on this one. If there had been a case of bird flu there, the headline could properly have said, “Poultry case sighted in China victim’s village”; “unsighted” strikes me as a perfectly cromulent word to indicate an absence of sightings. In fact, it’s the use of “poultry case” to indicate bird flu that seems a bit weak to my eye.
And by the way, the headline on the original link hasn’t been changed: “Poultry cases unsighted in China victim’s village.”
A small hijack:
On my local evening news, the weather anchor was giving the forecast while standing in front of the map of TX. As he gestured towards our area, the forecast popped up on the screen: “Cold and cleer”.
:rolleyes: