Precautionary Behavior in Response to Perceived Threat of Pandemic Influenza

Faced with an epidemic of an infectious disease, persons may take precautionary actions to try to reduce their risk. Such actions include avoiding situations that persons perceive to be risky, which can have negative health and economic effects. Therefore, we conducted a population-based survey of persons’ precautionary actions in response to a hypothetical influenza pandemic. For the 5 European and 3 Asian regions that had been affected by severe acute respiratory syndrome, the pattern of reported precautionary action was broadly similar across the regions; ≈75% of respondents reported that t... Mehr ...

Verfasser: M. Zia Sadique
W. John Edmunds
Richard D. Smith
William Jan Meerding
Onno de Zwart
Johannes Brug
Philippe Beutels
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2007
Reihe/Periodikum: Emerging Infectious Diseases, Vol 13, Iss 9, Pp 1307-1307 (2007)
Verlag/Hrsg.: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Schlagwörter: Precautionary behavior / risk perception / pandemic influenza / research / Denmark / the Netherlands / Medicine / R / Infectious and parasitic diseases / RC109-216
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-27191366
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://doi.org/10.3201/eid1309.070372

Faced with an epidemic of an infectious disease, persons may take precautionary actions to try to reduce their risk. Such actions include avoiding situations that persons perceive to be risky, which can have negative health and economic effects. Therefore, we conducted a population-based survey of persons’ precautionary actions in response to a hypothetical influenza pandemic. For the 5 European and 3 Asian regions that had been affected by severe acute respiratory syndrome, the pattern of reported precautionary action was broadly similar across the regions; ≈75% of respondents reported that they would avoid public transportation and 20%–30% would try to stay indoors. Some regional differences were noted; Europeans were more likely than Asians to avoid places of entertainment, and Asians were more likely to avoid seeing physicians. This international survey provides insight into what might be expected during an influenza pandemic.