Recognition of misinformation as a public health threat and interest in infodemics, defined as an inundation of information accompanying an epidemic or acute health event, have increased worldwide. However, scientists have no consensus on how to best define and identify misinformation and other essential characteristics of infodemics. We conducted a narrative review of secondary historical sources to examine previous infodemics in relation to four infectious diseases associated with pandemics (ie, smallpox, cholera, 1918 influenza, and HIV) and challenge the assumption that misinformation is a new phenomenon associated with increased use of social media or with the COVID-19 pandemic.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDetention and removal of unauthorised immigrants by United States (U.S.) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has steadily increased despite declining rates of unauthorised migration.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis paper argues that a cluster of pathogens, hazardous labor conditions, and environmental constraints rendered chronic gastrointestinal distress fatal for African laborers living near Lambaréné, Gabon during the 1920s. Application of syndemic theory and epidemiological methods on patient records at Hospital Schweitzer, the central hospital of the region, explain how a seemingly simple diagnosis of chronic gastrointestinal distress belied a complex web of worsening biological and social outcomes for laborers in the tropical forests of central Gabon. An analysis of the syndemic suffering of GI patients reveals how the dysentery pathogen became tied to the peaks and valleys of the colonial economy, and in particular, the colonial extraction of tropical hardwoods.
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