This video poster will be featured at the 2021 virtual conference of the UConn Center for mHealth and Social Media, "COVID19: Media, Misinformation, and Science Communication," on May 13-14. Registration still open: [ Ссылка ]

Abstract Title: The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: The Spread of Misinformation

Abstract Author: Maura Dooley, University of the Sciences, Philadelphia Pennsylvania

Abstract: Rivaling the COVID-19 pandemic’s relentless spread of coronavirus, is false health information. The misinformation regarding the pandemic, as well as transmission and prevention measures against the virus, has pervaded across every platform. However, this is no new phenomenon; the 1918 Influenza pandemic was not immune to this threat. Amidst the devastation of the first World War, news of the spread of influenza got buried under wartime efforts and newspaper columns. The lack of attention brewed a perfect melting pot of unfounded theories and alternative interventions, that led to a misinformed world losing about 50 million people to the virus. This research examines the public health information released in response to the 1918 Influenza pandemic, and how the elements of a society afflicted by war aided in this spread of misinformation. I analyzed records of public health fliers and newspaper articles from 1918 and 1919, in the United States, regarding the transmission of influenza, as well as possible nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), for scientific credibility. I researched further into the state of affairs within the US, in order to understand the environment of the society which bred misleading health information.

свернуть