The Polls Trends: Public Reactions to Global Health Threats and Infectious Diseases

• Published in: Public Opinion Quarterly
• Main Authors: Ho, Shirley S., Brossard, Dominique, Scheufele, Dietram A.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 2007
• Subjects: Poll Trends; Avian flu
• Online Access: http://poq.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/71/4/671; https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfm041

Over the past two decades, newly emerging infectious diseases have developed into major global health concerns, sparking intense media coverage, and triggering fears of a global outbreak among public health experts and authorities. This article focuses on trends in American attitudes toward these newly emerged infectious diseases by analyzing poll data over the past 6 years about issues relating to avian flu, severe acute respiratory syndrome, West Nile virus, and anthrax. The polls show that Americans’ attention to news coverage seemed to be event driven, peaking when there were new human or animal cases, and decreasing rapidly when the diseases seemed to have been contained. Americans’ perceptions of threats were usually the highest in the early stages of major outbreaks. The public became more complacent when the outbreaks seemed to be under control. Both behavioral changes and general knowledge remained largely constant, suggesting a limited impact of the various informational and awareness campaigns by governmental agencies in the wake of these pandemics.