Get the news out loudly and quickly: the influence of the media on limiting emerging infectious disease outbreaks.

ABSTRACT: During outbreaks of infectious diseases with high morbidity and mortality, individuals closely follow media reports of the outbreak. Many will attempt to minimize contacts with other individuals in order to protect themselves from infection and possibly death. This process is called social distancing. Social distancing strategies include restricting socializing and travel, and using barrier protections. We use modeling to show that for short-term outbreaks, social distancing can have a large influence on reducing outbreak morbidity and mortality. In particular, public health agencies working together with the media can significantly reduce the severity of an outbreak by providing timely accounts of new infections and deaths. Our models show that the most effective strategy to reduce infect

SUBMITTER: Mummert A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3753329 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature