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. 2016 Mar 16;11(3):e0151258.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0151258. eCollection 2016.

"Pandemic Public Health Paradox": Time Series Analysis of the 2009/10 Influenza A / H1N1 Epidemiology, Media Attention, Risk Perception and Public Reactions in 5 European Countries

Ralf Reintjes  1   2 , Enny Das  3 , Celine Klemm  4 , Jan Hendrik Richardus  5 , Verena Keßler  1 , Amena Ahmad  1
Affiliations

"Pandemic Public Health Paradox": Time Series Analysis of the 2009/10 Influenza A / H1N1 Epidemiology, Media Attention, Risk Perception and Public Reactions in 5 European Countries

Ralf Reintjes et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

In 2009, influenza A H1N1 caused the first pandemic of the 21st century. Although a vaccine against this influenza subtype was offered before or at the onset of the second epidemic wave that caused most of the fatal cases in Europe, vaccination rates for that season were lower than expected. We propose that the contradiction between high risk of infection and low use of available prevention measures represents a pandemic public health paradox. This research aims for a better understanding of this paradox by exploring the time-dependent interplay among changing influenza epidemiology, media attention, pandemic control measures, risk perception and public health behavior among five European countries (Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Spain and the UK). Findings suggest that asynchronicity between media curves and epidemiological curves may potentially explain the pandemic public health paradox; media attention for influenza A H1N1 in Europe declined long before the epidemic reached its peak, and public risk perceptions and behaviors may have followed media logic, rather than epidemiological logic.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Epidemiology, key events and media attention during the A/H1N1 pandemic in Germany.
Detailed data on the (i) number of new A/H1N1 cases per week, (ii) reported number of confirmed A/H1N1 deaths, (iii) media attention and (iv) vaccination uptake are provided in ‘S1 Data’. Data on vaccination coverage was taken from Mereckiene et al. [4] and data on risk perception from the Flash Eurobarometer survey [25]. Data on key events are provided in ‘S1 File’.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Epidemiology, key events and media attention during the A/H1N1 pandemic in UK.
Detailed data on the (i) number of new A/H1N1 cases per week, (ii) reported number of confirmed A/H1N1 deaths, (iii) media attention and (iv) vaccination uptake are provided in ‘S1 Data’. Data on vaccination coverage was taken from Mereckiene et al. [4] and data on risk perception from the Flash Eurobarometer survey [25]. Data on key events are provided in ‘S1 File’.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Epidemiology, key events and media attention during the A/H1N1 pandemic in Spain.
Detailed data on the (i) number of new A/H1N1 cases per week, (ii) reported number of confirmed A/H1N1 deaths and (iii) media attention are provided in ‘S1 Data’. Data on vaccination coverage was taken from Mereckiene et al. [4] and data on risk perception from the Flash Eurobarometer survey [25]. Data on key events are provided in ‘S1 File’.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Epidemiology, key events and media attention during the A/H1N1 pandemic in Czech Republic.
Detailed data on the (i) number of new A/H1N1 cases per week, (ii) reported number of confirmed A/H1N1 deaths and (iii) media attention are provided in the supplementary file ‘S1 Data’. Data on vaccination coverage was taken from Mereckiene et al. [4] and data on risk perception from the Flash Eurobarometer survey [25]. Data on key events are provided in ‘S1 File’.
Fig 5
Fig 5. Epidemiology, key events and media attention during the A/H1N1 pandemic in Denmark.
Detailed data on the (i) number of new A/H1N1 cases per week, (ii) reported number of confirmed A/H1N1 deaths, (iii) media attention and (iv) vaccination uptake are provided in the supplementary file ‘S1 Data’. Data on vaccination coverage was taken from Mereckiene et al. [4] and data on risk perception from the Flash Eurobarometer survey [25]. Data on key events are provided in‘S1 File’.
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References

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