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Full-Text Articles in Public Health

Is The Coronavirus A Pandemic, And Does That Matter? 4 Questions Answered, Brian Labus Feb 2020

Is The Coronavirus A Pandemic, And Does That Matter? 4 Questions Answered, Brian Labus

Environmental & Occupational Health Faculty Publications

Editor’s note: The new coronavirus has now affected more than 20,000 people in China and claimed more lives as of Feb. 4 than the SARS epidemic from 2002 to 2004. Hong Kong has reported its first death. Some public health officials have said the outbreak is likely to soon be a pandemic, but the World Health Organization said Feb. 4 that it isn’t, yet. Just what is a pandemic anyway? An epidemiologist and public health researcher explains.


Whom Do You Trust? Doubt And Conspiracy Theories In The 2009 Influenza Pandemic, Shawn Smallman Apr 2015

Whom Do You Trust? Doubt And Conspiracy Theories In The 2009 Influenza Pandemic, Shawn Smallman

International & Global Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

The 2009 pandemic of H1N1 influenza led people around the globe to create narratives about the epidemic defined by the question of trust; these narratives ranged from true conspiracy theories to simply accounts in which mistrust and betrayal formed a motif. In particular, most of these narratives reflected a fear of capitalism and globalization, although in specific regions, other issues—such as religion—played a more central role. These stories were not unique to the H1N1 pandemic but rather have appeared with every contemporary outbreak of infectious disease. This paper will examine conspiracy theories and moral panics related to the H1N1 pandemic …


Influenza In The 21st Century : Assessment Of The 2009 H1n1 Pandemic Severity, Enhanced Surveillance Methods, And Pediatric Influenza-Associated Deaths, Dina M. Hoefer Jan 2012

Influenza In The 21st Century : Assessment Of The 2009 H1n1 Pandemic Severity, Enhanced Surveillance Methods, And Pediatric Influenza-Associated Deaths, Dina M. Hoefer

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Influenza is among the most important of the endemic, epidemic, and pandemic diseases infecting humans. In June 2009, the World Health Organization raised the worldwide pandemic alert level to Phase 6 in response to the ongoing global spread of 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) virus (pH1N1).1 The 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic presented a unique opportunity and provided resources to monitor and study influenza in a way that would and could not be supported during a `typical' influenza season. Research objectives included: 1) characterizing the severity of illness among hospitalized patients infected with pH1N1; 2) assessing the utility of hospital discharge …


Developing Countries, Vaccine Access And Influenza Outbreaks: Ethics And Global Health Governance When Facing A Pandemic, Shawn Smallman Mar 2011

Developing Countries, Vaccine Access And Influenza Outbreaks: Ethics And Global Health Governance When Facing A Pandemic, Shawn Smallman

International & Global Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

The threat posed by influenza pandemics raises serious ethical issues, as well as questions of global health governance. In order to create pre-pandemic vaccines, global health authorities need access to virus from regional outbreaks. But because the countries where these outbreaks occur are unlikely to benefit from the vaccine, they are sometimes reluctant to share this seed stock, and may try to make proprietary arrangements with pharmaceutical companies, as briefly occurred in Indonesia. Although these arrangements may increase developing countries' access to vaccine, they hamper the global cooperation necessary to prepare for influenza outbreaks. Developing countries, in contrast, point to …