Ongoing outbreak with well over 4,000 measles cases in Italy from January to end August 2017 − what is making elimination so difficult?

Filia, Antonietta; Bella, Antonino; Manso, Martina Del; Baggieri, Melissa; Magurano, Fabio; Rota, Maria Cristina

doi:10.2807/1560-7917.es.2017.22.37.30614

Cited by 100 publications

(81 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…In the health arena, much concern has focused on the spread of misinformation on immunisation, with social media acting as a powerful catalyst for the 'anti-vaxxer movement'. By encouraging individuals not to vaccinate their children, this movement has been linked to recent measles outbreaks in countries such as the UK, the US, Germany and Italy (Datta et al, 2017;Filia et al, 2017). The prevalence and persistence of such misinformation justifies a careful and systematic review of published literature on the nature and the mechanisms by which misinformation spreads.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Systematic Literature Review on the Spread of Health-related Misinformation on Social Media

Wang

McKee

Torbica

et al. 2019

Social Science & Medicine

1,251

806

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A B S T R A C TContemporary commentators describe the current period as "an era of fake news" in which misinformation, generated intentionally or unintentionally, spreads rapidly. Although affecting all areas of life, it poses particular problems in the health arena, where it can delay or prevent effective care, in some cases threatening the lives of individuals. While examples of the rapid spread of misinformation date back to the earliest days of scientific medicine, the internet, by allowing instantaneous communication and powerful amplification has brought about a quantum change. In democracies where ideas compete in the marketplace for attention, accurate scientific information, which may be difficult to comprehend and even dull, is easily crowded out by sensationalized news. In order to uncover the current evidence and better understand the mechanism of misinformation spread, we report a systematic review of the nature and potential drivers of health-related misinformation. We searched PubMed, Cochrane, Web of Science, Scopus and Google databases to identify relevant methodological and empirical articles published between 2012 and 2018. A total of 57 articles were included for full-text analysis. Overall, we observe an increasing trend in published articles on health-related misinformation and the role of social media in its propagation. The most extensively studied topics involving misinformation relate to vaccination, Ebola and Zika Virus, although others, such as nutrition, cancer, fluoridation of water and smoking also featured. Studies adopted theoretical frameworks from psychology and network science, while co-citation analysis revealed potential for greater collaboration across fields. Most studies employed content analysis, social network analysis or experiments, drawing on disparate disciplinary paradigms. Future research should examine susceptibility of different sociodemographic groups to misinformation and understand the role of belief systems on the intention to spread misinformation. Further interdisciplinary research is also warranted to identify effective and tailored interventions to counter the spread of health-related misinformation online.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Systematic Literature Review on the Spread of Health-related Misinformation on Social Media

Wang

McKee

Torbica

et al. 2019

Social Science & Medicine

1,251

806

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…While the burden of vaccine‐preventable disease is greatest in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs; Oyo‐Ita 2016; Sutter 2006), outbreaks occur all over the world, including in countries with relatively high coverage (e.g. Belgium, Italy, Ireland, Australia, USA; Barrett 2016; Filia 2017; Grammens 2017; Townsville‐Mackay 2013; Zipprich 2015). Therefore, improving and maintaining global childhood vaccination rates is an ongoing public health goal, prioritised by major international health strategies and agreements, such as the UN Millennium Development Goals (UN Millennium Project 2006), the WHO‐UNICEF Global Immunization Vision and Strategy (WHO 2009), and the Global Vaccine Action Plan 2011 to 2020 (WHO 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Face-to-face interventions for informing or educating parents about early childhood vaccination

Kaufman

Ryan

Walsh

et al. 2018

Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews

168

122

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BackgroundEarly childhood vaccination is an essential global public health practice that saves two to three million lives each year, but many children do not receive all the recommended vaccines. To achieve and maintain appropriate coverage rates, vaccination programmes rely on people having sufficient awareness and acceptance of vaccines.Face‐to‐face information or educational interventions are widely used to help parents understand why vaccines are important; explain where, how and when to access services; and address hesitancy and concerns about vaccine safety or efficacy. Such interventions are interactive, and can be adapted to target particular populations or identified barriers.This is an update of a review originally published in 2013.ObjectivesTo assess the effects of face‐to‐face interventions for informing or educating parents about early childhood vaccination on vaccination status and parental knowledge, attitudes and intention to vaccinate.Search methodsWe searched the CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, five other databases, and two trial registries (July and August 2017). We screened reference lists of relevant articles, and contacted authors of included studies and experts in the field. We had no language or date restrictions.Selection criteriaWe included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and cluster‐RCTs evaluating the effects of face‐to‐face interventions delivered to parents or expectant parents to inform or educate them about early childhood vaccination, compared with control or with another face‐to‐face intervention. The World Health Organization recommends that children receive all early childhood vaccines, with the exception of human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV), which is delivered to adolescents.Data collection and analysisWe used standard methodological procedures expected by Cochrane. Two authors independently reviewed all search results, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies.Main resultsIn this update, we found four new studies, for a total of ten studies. We included seven RCTs and three cluster‐RCTs involving a total of 4527 participants, although we were unable to pool the data from one cluster‐RCT. Three of the ten studies were conducted in low‐ or middle‐ income countries.All included studies compared face‐to‐face interventions with control. Most studies evaluated the effectiveness of a single intervention session delivered to individual parents. The interventions were an even mix of short (ten minutes or less) and longer sessions (15 minutes to several hours).Overall, elements of the study designs put them at moderate to high risk of bias. All studies but one were at low risk of bias for sequence generation (i.e. used a random number sequence). For allocation concealment (i.e. the person randomising participants was unaware of the study group to which participant would be allocated), three were at high risk and one was judged at unclear risk of bias. Due to the educational nature of the intervention, blinding of participants and personnel was not possible in any ...

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“…There was one case of measles-associated pneumonia. The typical hospitalisation rate for measles cases is one in four [14], and hospitalisation rates for other outbreaks in Europe ranged from 15.7% to 47% [15][16][17][18]. The high hospitalisation rate in this outbreak (11/15 cases) might reflect the need for isolation, rather than severe illness.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Measles outbreak in Dubrovnik-Neretva County, Croatia, May to June 2018

et al. 2020

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In May 2018, measles was introduced in the Dubrovnik region by an adult who recently travelled to Kosovo*. Control measures and an outbreak investigation were implemented: 15 epidemiologically-linked cases met the outbreak case definition of a visitor/resident of Dubrovnik-Neretva County with laboratory-confirmed measles and symptom onset beginning on May 19. New cases were identified through hospitals and primary care physicians. Throat swabs, urine and/or serum samples were collected from outbreak cases. RT-PCR detection of viral RNA and IgM/IgG was used to confirm infection. The median age of cases was 33 years, with one 8 month-old infant. Vaccination status was unknown for 9 cases, three were unvaccinated, one case had history of one dose and two cases reported receiving two doses of measles-containing vaccine. There were 11 hospitalisations and one person developed pneumonia. Control teams undertook an extensive search of contacts and implemented a range of control measures. Despite the outbreak occurring at the beginning of the summer tourism season, it was contained and did not spread to neighbouring regions. With continuing measles transmission in Europe, even small outbreaks create a burden on the health system in countries which have eliminated measles, and illustrate the importance of maintaining high immunisation coverage.

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Ongoing outbreak with well over 4,000 measles cases in Italy from January to end August 2017 − what is making elimination so difficult?

Cited by 100 publications

References 8 publications

Systematic Literature Review on the Spread of Health-related Misinformation on Social Media

Systematic Literature Review on the Spread of Health-related Misinformation on Social Media

Face-to-face interventions for informing or educating parents about early childhood vaccination

Measles outbreak in Dubrovnik-Neretva County, Croatia, May to June 2018

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