An Epidemic of Rumors
An Epidemic of Rumors

Author: Jon D. Lee

Publisher: University Press of Colorado

Published: 2014-01-14

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 149201320X

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In An Epidemic of Rumors, Jon D. Lee examines the human response to epidemics through the lens of the 2003 SARS epidemic. Societies usually respond to the eruption of disease by constructing stories, jokes, conspiracy theories, legends, and rumors, but these narratives are often more damaging than the diseases they reference. The information disseminated through them is often inaccurate, incorporating xenophobic explanations of the disease’s origins and questionable medical information about potential cures and treatment. Folklore studies brings important and useful perspectives to understanding cultural responses to the outbreak of disease. Through this etiological study Lee shows the similarities between the narratives of the SARS outbreak and the narratives of other contemporary disease outbreaks like AIDS and the H1N1 virus. His analysis suggests that these disease narratives do not spring up with new outbreaks or diseases but are in continuous circulation and are recycled opportunistically. Lee also explores whether this predictability of vernacular disease narratives presents the opportunity to create counter-narratives released systematically from the government or medical science to stymie the negative effects of the fearful rumors that so often inflame humanity. With potential for practical application to public health and health policy, An Epidemic of Rumors will be of interest to students and scholars of health, medicine, and folklore.

Epidemics and Rumours in Complex Networks
Epidemics and Rumours in Complex Networks

Author: Moez Draief

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2009-12-03

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780521734431

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Information propagation through peer-to-peer systems, online social systems, wireless mobile ad hoc networks and other modern structures can be modelled as an epidemic on a network of contacts. Understanding how epidemic processes interact with network topology allows us to predict ultimate course, understand phase transitions and develop strategies to control and optimise dissemination. This book is a concise introduction for applied mathematicians and computer scientists to basic models, analytical tools and mathematical and algorithmic results. Mathematical tools introduced include coupling methods, Poisson approximation (the Stein-Chen method), concentration inequalities (Chernoff bounds and Azuma-Hoeffding inequality) and branching processes. The authors examine the small-world phenomenon, preferential attachment, as well as classical epidemics. Each chapter ends with pointers to the wider literature. An ideal accompaniment for graduate courses, this book is also for researchers (statistical physicists, biologists, social scientists) who need an efficient guide to modern approaches to epidemic modelling on networks.

Learning from SARS
Learning from SARS

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2004-04-26

Total Pages: 376

ISBN-13: 0309182158

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The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in late 2002 and 2003 challenged the global public health community to confront a novel epidemic that spread rapidly from its origins in southern China until it had reached more than 25 other countries within a matter of months. In addition to the number of patients infected with the SARS virus, the disease had profound economic and political repercussions in many of the affected regions. Recent reports of isolated new SARS cases and a fear that the disease could reemerge and spread have put public health officials on high alert for any indications of possible new outbreaks. This report examines the response to SARS by public health systems in individual countries, the biology of the SARS coronavirus and related coronaviruses in animals, the economic and political fallout of the SARS epidemic, quarantine law and other public health measures that apply to combating infectious diseases, and the role of international organizations and scientific cooperation in halting the spread of SARS. The report provides an illuminating survey of findings from the epidemic, along with an assessment of what might be needed in order to contain any future outbreaks of SARS or other emerging infections.

Handbook of Research on Historical Pandemic Analysis and the Social Implications of COVID-19
Handbook of Research on Historical Pandemic Analysis and the Social Implications of COVID-19

Author: Cortijo Ocaña, Antonio

Publisher: IGI Global

Published: 2021-09-18

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 1799879895

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The current health situation has been described as chaotic and devastating. Humanity’s trust in the future and in its human capacity to overcome a disaster of such magnitude is even starting to wither away. If science still lacks a response to the pandemic, can the humanities offer something to cope with this situation? The world can adopt a historical perspective and realize that this is not the first time a global pandemic has struck. Issues including illness, suffering, endurance, resilience, human survival, etc. have been dealt with by literature, philosophy, psychology, and sociology throughout the ages and should be explored once again in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Handbook of Research on Historical Pandemic Analysis and the Social Implications of COVID-19 explores the issue of disease from a variety of philosophical, legal, historical, and social perspectives to offer both comprehension and consolation to the human psyche. This group of scholars within the fields of education, psychology, linguistics, history, and philosophy provides a comprehensive view of the humanities as it relates to the pandemic within the frame of human reaction to pain and calamity. This book also looks at the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on society in a multidisciplinary capacity that examines its effects in education, government, business, and more. Covering topics such as public health legislation, sociology, impacts on women, and population genetics, this book is essential for sociologists, psychologists, communications experts, historians, researchers, students, and academicians.

False Alarm
False Alarm

Author: Marc Siegel

Publisher: Turner Publishing Company

Published: 2008-05-02

Total Pages: 215

ISBN-13: 0470358572

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More relevant than ever as the Coronavirus, COVID-19 pandemic sweeps the globe, False Alarm (Originally released in 2008) reminds readers to look closely at the facts as the media covers the national pandemic news and spread of the virus, as well as reinforces the notion that we must arm ourselves against fear tactics that inhibit our abilities to properly make decisions in a world of uncertainty. Life today for citizens of the developed world is safer, easier, and healthier than for any other people in history thanks to modern medicine, science, technology, and intelligence. So why is an epidemic of fear sweeping America? The answer, according to nationally renowned health commentator Dr. Marc Siegel, is that we live in an artificially created culture of fear. In False Alarm, Siegel identifies three major catalysts of the culture of fear—government, the media, and big pharma. With fascinating, blow-by-blow analyses of the most sensational false alarms of the past few years, he shows how these fearmongers manipulate our most primitive instincts—often without our even realizing it. False Alarm shows us how to look behind the hype and hysteria, inoculate ourselves against fear tactics, and develop the emotional and intellectual skills needed to take back our lives.

How to Prevent the Next Pandemic
How to Prevent the Next Pandemic

Author: Bill Gates

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2022-05-03

Total Pages: 235

ISBN-13: 0593534492

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Governments, businesses, and individuals around the world are thinking about what happens after the COVID-19 pandemic. Can we hope to not only ward off another COVID-like disaster but also eliminate all respiratory diseases, including the flu? Bill Gates, one of our greatest and most effective thinkers and activists, believes the answer is yes. The author of the #1 New York Times best seller How to Avoid a Climate Disaster lays out clearly and convincingly what the world should have learned from COVID-19 and what all of us can do to ward off another catastrophe like it. Relying on the shared knowledge of the world’s foremost experts and on his own experience of combating fatal diseases through the Gates Foundation, Gates first helps us understand the science of infectious diseases. Then he shows us how the nations of the world, working in conjunction with one another and with the private sector, how we can prevent a new pandemic from killing millions of people and devastating the global economy. Here is a clarion call—strong, comprehensive, and of the gravest importance.

The Kiss of Death
The Kiss of Death

Author: Andrea Kitta

Publisher: Utah State University Press

Published: 2019-10-15

Total Pages: 203

ISBN-13: 1607329263

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Disease is a social issue, not just a medical issue. Using examples of specific legends and rumors, The Kiss of Death explores the beliefs and practices that permeate notions of contagion and contamination. Author Andrea Kitta offers new insight into the nature of vernacular conceptions of health and sickness and how medical and scientific institutions can use cultural literacy to better meet their communities’ needs. Using ethnographic, media, and narrative analysis, this book explores the vernacular explanatory models used in decisions concerning contagion to better understand the real fears, risks, concerns, and doubts of the public. Kitta explores immigration and patient zero, zombies and vampires, Slender Man, HPV, and the kiss of death legend, as well as systematic racism, homophobia, and misogyny in North American culture, to examine the nature of contagion and contamination. Conversations about health and risk cannot take place without considering positionality and intersectionality. In The Kiss of Death, Kitta isolates areas that require better communication and greater cultural sensitivity in the handling of infectious disease, public health, and other health-related disciplines and industries.

Epidemic Modelling
Epidemic Modelling

Author: D. J. Daley

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1999-04-13

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 9780521640794

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This is a general introduction to the mathematical modelling of diseases.

The Pandemic Century
The Pandemic Century

Author: Mark Honigsbaum

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2019-03-09

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 1787382648

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Like sharks, epidemic diseases always lurk just beneath the surface. This fast-paced history of their effect on mankind prompts questions about the limits of scientific knowledge, the dangers of medical hubris, and how we should prepare as epidemics become ever more frequent. Ever since the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic, scientists have dreamed of preventing catastrophic outbreaks of infectious disease. Yet, despite a century of medical progress, viral and bacterial disasters continue to take us by surprise, inciting panic and dominating news cycles. From the Spanish flu and the 1924 outbreak of pneumonic plague in Los Angeles to the 1930 'parrot fever' pandemic and the more recent SARS, Ebola, and Zika epidemics, the last 100 years have been marked by a succession of unanticipated pandemic alarms. Like man-eating sharks, predatory pathogens are always present in nature, waiting to strike; when one is seemingly vanquished, others appear in its place. These pandemics remind us of the limits of scientific knowledge, as well as the role that human behaviour and technologies play in the emergence and spread of microbial diseases.

The Psychology of Pandemics
The Psychology of Pandemics

Author: Steven Taylor

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2019-12

Total Pages: 175

ISBN-13: 9781527539594

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Pandemics are large-scale epidemics that spread throughout the world. Virologists predict that the next pandemic could occur in the coming years, probably from some form of influenza, with potentially devastating consequences. Vaccinations, if available, and behavioral methods are vital for stemming the spread of infection. However, remarkably little attention has been devoted to the psychological factors that influence the spread of pandemic infection and the associated emotional distress and social disruption. Psychological factors are important for many reasons. They play a role in nonadherence to vaccination and hygiene programs, and play an important role in how people cope with the threat of infection and associated losses. Psychological factors are important for understanding and managing societal problems associated with pandemics, such as the spreading of excessive fear, stigmatization, and xenophobia that occur when people are threatened with infection. This book offers the first comprehensive analysis of the psychology of pandemics. It describes the psychological reactions to pandemics, including maladaptive behaviors, emotions, and defensive reactions, and reviews the psychological vulnerability factors that contribute to the spreading of disease and distress. It also considers empirically supported methods for addressing these problems, and outlines the implications for public health planning.