TY - JOUR
T1 - 'Fuzzy' virus
T2 - indeterminate influenza biology, diagnosis and surveillance in the risk ontologies of the general public in time of pandemics
AU - Lohm, Davina
AU - Davis, Mark
AU - Flowers, Paul
AU - Stephenson, Niamh
PY - 2015/2/17
Y1 - 2015/2/17
N2 - Influenza viruses are radically uncertain, leading to scientific and procedural challenges for diagnosis and surveillance and lending influenza symptoms a high degree of indeterminacy. In time of pandemic influenza, however, members of the general public are asked to enact non-pharmaceutical infection control measures such as hygiene and social distancing. Drawing on the concepts of manufactured risk and ontological insecurity, we use data from interviews and focus groups we undertook in 2011 and 2012 in Melbourne, Sydney and Glasgow, to examine how members of the general public understood the ‘fuzzy’ nature of the influenza virus and reconciled this with infection control measures. We found that participants in our research acknowledged: the difficulty of avoiding infection from influenza; impediments to accurate diagnosis and that infection control measures proposed by public health messages were compromised by the ‘fuzzy’ nature of the virus. However, we found that participants valued prevention measures, not necessarily because they were seen to be effective, but because they supplied security in the face of influenza’s uncertainties and the wider proliferation of daily and biographical risks.
AB - Influenza viruses are radically uncertain, leading to scientific and procedural challenges for diagnosis and surveillance and lending influenza symptoms a high degree of indeterminacy. In time of pandemic influenza, however, members of the general public are asked to enact non-pharmaceutical infection control measures such as hygiene and social distancing. Drawing on the concepts of manufactured risk and ontological insecurity, we use data from interviews and focus groups we undertook in 2011 and 2012 in Melbourne, Sydney and Glasgow, to examine how members of the general public understood the ‘fuzzy’ nature of the influenza virus and reconciled this with infection control measures. We found that participants in our research acknowledged: the difficulty of avoiding infection from influenza; impediments to accurate diagnosis and that infection control measures proposed by public health messages were compromised by the ‘fuzzy’ nature of the virus. However, we found that participants valued prevention measures, not necessarily because they were seen to be effective, but because they supplied security in the face of influenza’s uncertainties and the wider proliferation of daily and biographical risks.
KW - flu
KW - H1N1 (swine influenza)
KW - influenza
KW - public health
KW - risk
KW - risk ontology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84929508814&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13698575.2015.1031645
DO - 10.1080/13698575.2015.1031645
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84929508814
VL - 17
SP - 115
EP - 131
IS - 2
ER -