An interesting look at how pandemics can be affected by media exposure –

Now Anna Mummert at Marshall University and Howard Weiss at Georgia Tech examine the effectiveness of another tool: the media. They point out that announcements in the media have a powerful effect on the behaviour of individuals. During the 2003 SARS outbreak, for example, the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that travel to SARS infected areas should be restricted. The announcement was widely reported in the media and the number of travellers to these areas dropped dramatically.

So the idea is that public health agencies constantly update the media about the number of infections, which then immediately pass on the information to the general population.

When that happens, the result is a dramatic decrease in the severity of the outbreak. And the more up-to-date the information, the greater this effect.

The reason for the decrease in severity is that self isolation effectively makes people immune because they cannot get the disease. Mathematically, they get transferred from the “susceptible” to the “removed” pool, without passing through the infected stage.

Read The Full Article Here (via Technology Review)

You should find out more about how we can work together.