RESUMO
The emergence of viral diseases such as Ebola virus disease, Zika virus disease, and the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has posed considerable challenges to health care systems around the world. Public health strategy to address emerging infectious diseases has depended in part on human behavior change and yet the perceptions and knowledge motivating that behavior have been at times inconsistent with the latest consensus of peer-reviewed science. Part of that disjuncture likely involves the existence and persistence of past ideas about other diseases. To forecast and prepare for future epidemic and pandemic response, we need to better understand how people approach emerging infectious diseases as objects of public opinion during the periods when such diseases first become salient at a population level. In this essay, we explore two examples of how existing mental models of past infectious diseases appear to have conditioned and constrained public response to novel viral diseases. We review previously reported experiences related to Zika virus in Central America and discuss public opinion data collected in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the case of Zika virus disease, we assess how thinking about earlier mosquito-borne disease seems to have affected public consideration of the virus in Guatemala. In the case of COVID-19, we assess how previous vaccination behavior for a different disease is associated with intention to obtain vaccination for COVID-19 in the future.
Assuntos
COVID-19/epidemiologia , COVID-19/psicologia , Modelos Psicológicos , Infecção por Zika virus/epidemiologia , Infecção por Zika virus/psicologia , Vacinas contra COVID-19/psicologia , Guatemala/epidemiologia , Comportamentos Relacionados com a Saúde , Conhecimentos, Atitudes e Prática em Saúde , Doença pelo Vírus Ebola/epidemiologia , Humanos , Mosquitos Vetores , Pandemias , Opinião Pública , SARS-CoV-2 , Estados Unidos/epidemiologia , Doenças Transmitidas por Vetores/epidemiologia , Doenças Transmitidas por Vetores/psicologiaRESUMO
Limited data exist about U.S. travelers' knowledge, risk perceptions, and behaviors related to the Zika virus (ZIKV). Using an internet research panel, in March 2017, we surveyed 1,202 Americans in the continental United States and Puerto Rico who planned to travel to a ZIKV-affected country, state, or U.S. territory in 2017. We compared levels of knowledge and perceived risk of ZIKV, and intentions to practice ZIKV prevention behaviors across respondents from three regions: Puerto Rico, at-risk states, and other states. More than 80% of respondents correctly understood that a person could acquire ZIKV through a bite from an infected mosquito, and over 64% of respondents knew that a pregnant woman could pass the virus to her fetus. Less than half of the respondents from at-risk states and other states knew that ZIKV could be transmitted sexually, as compared with three-quarters of respondents from Puerto Rico. Compared with respondents from at-risk and other states, respondents from Puerto Rico were the most knowledgeable for almost all types of knowledge assessed. Knowledge about post-travel precautions was low across all three regions. Differences in perceived risk and intentions to practice specific prevention behaviors also varied among regions. Significant gaps exist in U.S. travelers' knowledge about how to prevent ZIKV transmission both during and after travel. Input and collaboration from the travel industry, health care providers, and the media are needed to help educate travelers about how to prevent ZIKV infection and transmission.
Assuntos
Conhecimentos, Atitudes e Prática em Saúde , Infecção por Zika virus/prevenção & controle , Zika virus/fisiologia , Adolescente , Adulto , Feminino , Comportamentos Relacionados com a Saúde , Humanos , Masculino , Gravidez , Porto Rico , Inquéritos e Questionários , Viagem , Estados Unidos , Adulto Jovem , Infecção por Zika virus/virologiaRESUMO
Mental models are cognitive representations of phenomena that can constrain efforts to reduce infectious disease. In a study of Zika virus awareness in Guatemala, many participants referred to experiences with other mosquitoborne diseases during discussions of Zika virus. These results highlight the importance of past experiences for Zika virus understanding.