Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T00:55:01.526Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Media Reporting of the Emergence of the 1968 Influenza Pandemic in Hong Kong: Implications for Modern-day Situational Awareness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2013

James M. Wilson ,
Marissa Iannarone  and
Chunhui Wang
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objective: We investigated local media reporting during the emergence of influenza A/Hong Kong/68 in Hong Kong to understand how indolent social awareness contributed to delays in warning of the pandemic.

Methods: Daily output from 1 English-language and 4 local Chinese-language newspapers published in Hong Kong between July 1 and August 31, 1968 were manually reviewed for all references to the presence of respiratory disease or influenza in southern China and Hong Kong. Public announcements from the World Health Organization Weekly Epidemiological Record were used to approximate international awareness.

Results: Influenza A/Hong Kong/68 appeared abruptly in Hong Kong and within 1 week began to affect the functioning of the health care sector as well as civil infrastructure due to worker infection and absenteeism. Substantial delays in communication between Guangzhou, China, and Hong Kong officials contributed to delays in warning globally.

Conclusions: The 1968 experience emphasizes the need to use the news media in the operational setting as a critical component in warning of a pandemic. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2009;3(Suppl 2):S148–S153)

Keywords

pandemicinfluenza1968surveillancewarningsocial and situational awareness
Type
Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 3 , Issue S2 , December 2009 , pp. S148 - S153
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1.Increasing Number of Deaths in Guangzhou Might Cause Plagues at Any Time: Frightened People Hoarding Medicine and Food. Ming Bao, July 11, 1968.Google Scholar
2.A Letter from Guangzhou. Ming Bao, July 22, 1968.Google Scholar
3.Medical Staff Believes That the Influenza in Hong Kong Was Introduced From Guangzhou. Gongshang Ribao, July 28, 1968.Google Scholar
4.Check Up on That Cold Before You Blame the Climate. South China Morning Post, July 16, 1968.Google Scholar
5.Influenza Outbreak: Infection Is Spreading Rapidly and the Number of Patients Increased Significantly. There Are Long Lines in Major Clinics. Wenhui Bao, July 19, 1968.Google Scholar
6.Symptoms of Influenza and Measures to Prevent and Treat it. Wenhui Bao, July 19, 1968.Google Scholar
7.Effective Medicine for Influenza. Wenhui Bao, July 19, 1968.Google Scholar
8.Heat Wave Blamed for Large Number of Influenza Cases. South China Morning Post, July 20, 1968.Google Scholar
9.Hot Weather and Increased Cold. Gongshang Ribao, July 21, 1968.Google Scholar
10.Influenza is Spreading and Many Nurses Are Also Sick. Wenhui Bao, July 21, 1968.Google Scholar
11.Thousands Down With Asian ‘Flu. South China Morning Post, July 24, 1968.Google Scholar
12.Influenza Continues Spreading. Wenhui Bao, July 24, 1968.Google Scholar
13.Influenza Cases Have Increased but There Is No Accurate Statistics Yet. Gongshang Ribao, July 24, 1968.Google Scholar
14.Influenza Continues to Spread While the Number of Patients Has Reached Over 600,000. Ming Bao, July 25, 1968.Google Scholar
15.Influenza Has Seriously Affected Citizens: Many Public Transportation Staff have Become Sick. Gongshang Ribao, July 25, 1968.Google Scholar
16.Medical Dept Hard Hit by Influenza. South China Morning Post, July 25, 1968.Google Scholar
17.The Influenza Outbreak Is Increasing and Twenty-one People Died. Ming Bao, July 26, 1968.Google Scholar
18.Influenza Killed Twenty-one People This Year Causing Bronchitis and Pneumonia. Wenhui Bao, July 26, 1968.Google Scholar
19.Influenza Has Become Very Serious and Caused Five Deaths This Month. Gongshang Ribao, July 26, 1968.Google Scholar
20.Juice Is Very Popular to Sell and Watermelon Demand Exceeds Supply. Gongshang Ribao, July 26, 1968.Google Scholar
21.Clinics Should Add Extra Shifts. Wenhui Bao, July 26, 1968.Google Scholar
22.Clinics to Open on Holidays as ‘Flu Cases Rise. South China Morning Post, July 26, 1968.Google Scholar
23.The Health Department Is Attempting to Deal With the Influenza Spread: Government Hospitals and Clinics Will Open Night Shifts Starting Today. Gongshang Ribao, July 27, 1968.Google Scholar
24.The Peak of the Influenza Outbreak Has Passed. Ming Bao, July 27, 1968.Google Scholar
25.Influenza Patients Continue Increasing: The British Hong Kong Government Did Not Come Up With Preventive or Treatment Measures. Wenhui Bao, July 27, 1968.Google Scholar
26.Fighting Against Influenza. Ming Bao, July 28, 1968.Google Scholar
27.Medical Staff Are Doing Their Best. Gongshang Ribao, July 28, 1968.Google Scholar
28.Union Clinics Are Adding Hours Today; Macao Lutun Broadcasting Station Is Airing Information on Influenza Prevention and Treatment. Wenhui Bao, July 28, 1968.Google Scholar
29.Two Community Centers Are Distributing Medicine to Help to Control the Current Epidemic. Gongshang Ribao, July 28, 1968.Google Scholar
30.The Influenza Virus Was Most Common in Hunan; 29 Deaths in Hong Kong; Head of the Health Department in Macao Is Also Sick. Ming Bao, August 1, 1968.Google Scholar
31.Influenza Epidemic Is Going Down. Wenhui Bao, August 2, 1968.Google Scholar
32.The Number of Influenza Patients Has Decreased But One More Old Woman Dies From It; A Japanese Doctor Came to Hong Kong to Investigate the Epidemic. Ming Bao, July 31, 1968.Google Scholar
33.‘Flu Epidemic Appears on the Wane. South China Morning Post, July 30, 1968.Google Scholar
34.Philippines Discovered the Hong Kong Influenza Epidemic and Has Health Department Begin Inspecting People Coming From Hong Kong. Ming Bao, July 30, 1968.Google Scholar
35.The Hong Kong Influenza Is Spreading to Singapore. Gongshang Ribao, August 3, 1968.Google Scholar
36.Road Distractions: Medical Care. South China Morning Post, July 30, 1968.Google Scholar
37.Seven More Die But Flu Subsides. South China Morning Post, August 1, 1968.Google Scholar
38.Asian Flu May Spread to Britain. South China Morning Post, August 2, 1968.Google Scholar
39.World Health Organization Weekly Epidemiological Record. 1968;43 (31):387.Google Scholar
40.‘Flu Fear Keeps Crew on Ship. South China Morning Post, August 3, 1968.Google Scholar
41.‘Flu Epidemic Petering Out. South China Morning Post, August 10, 1968.Google Scholar
42.Elderly Women Latest Victims of Influenza. South China Morning Post, August 7, 1968.Google Scholar
43.Two More Deaths From Influenza. South China Morning Post, August 6, 1968.Google Scholar
44.Influenza Cases Decreasing. South China Morning Post, August 9, 1968.Google Scholar
45.The Price for Herb Medicines Has Greatly Increased With the Influenza Epidemic. Gongshang Ribao, August 6, 1968.Google Scholar
46.Influenza Patients Who Went to Bangkok Must Be in Quarantine for Treatment Until They Recover Before They Can Cross the Border; Hong Kong Influenza Has Been Brought to Tokyo by Travelers. Ming Bao, August 6, 1968.Google Scholar
47.Hong Kong Influenza Has Spread to Singapore. Ming Bao, August 14, 1968.Google Scholar
48.Japanese Minister of Bacteria Reported That the Hong Kong Influenza Is a New Type of Virus. Wenhui Bao, August 14, 1968.Google Scholar
49.Influenza Is Threatening Japan. Wenhui Bao, August 17, 1968.Google Scholar
50.Japan is Trying to Make Vaccines to Prevent Influenza AIIII. Ming Bao, August 18, 1968.Google Scholar
51.No Major Change in H.K. ‘Flu Virus. South China Morning Post, August 14, 1968.Google Scholar
52.World Health Organization Weekly Epidemiological Record. 1968;43(33):411.Google Scholar
53.Influenza Hits Philippines and They Began Emergency Prevention Measures. Ming Bao, August 22, 1968.Google Scholar
54.Influenza Has Hit Singapore. Gongshang Ribao, August 23, 1968.Google Scholar
55.Influenza Has Hit Philippines. Gongshang Ribao, August 21, 1968.Google Scholar
56.‘Flu Virus Was of A2 Variety. South China Morning Post, August 21, 1968.Google Scholar
57.Wiebenga, NH, Chang, WK, French, GR, Woolridge, RL.Epidemic disease in Hong Kong, 1968, associated with an antigenic variant of Asian influenza virus. Am J Public Health Nations Health. 1970;60:1806–1812.Google Scholar
58.Matlof, H, Murray, RA, Kamei, I, Heidbreder, GA.Influenza in Los Angeles County, 1968-69. HSMHA Health Rep. 1971;86:183–192.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
59.Influenza 1968–A2-Hong Kong-68.Calif Med. 1970;112:25–38.Google Scholar
60.Chin, J, Magoffin, RL, Lennette, EH.The epidemiology of influenza in California, 1968–1973. West J Med. 1974;121:94–99.Google Scholar
61.Lee, VJ, Wong, CS, Tambyah, P, et alTwentieth century influenza pandemics in Singapore. Ann Acad Med Singapore. 2008;37:470–476.Google Scholar
62.Payne, AM.Symposium on the Asian influenza epidemic, 1957. Proc R Soc Med. 1958;51:29–38.Google Scholar
63.Cockburn, CW, Delon, PJ, Ferreira, W.Origin and progress of the 1968-9 Hong Kong influenza epidemic. Bull WHO. 1969;41:345–348.Google Scholar
64.Wilson, JM, Polyak, MG, Blake, JW, Collmann, J.A heuristic indication and warning staging model for detection and assessment of biological events. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2008;15:158–71.Google Scholar
65.Heyman DL, Rodier G. Global surveillance, national surveillance, and SARS. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol10no2/03-1038.htm. Accessed November 13, 2008.Google Scholar
66.International Civil Aviation Organization. What is ICAOData? http://icaodata.com/Trial/WhatIsICAO.aspx. Accessed July 29, 2008.Google Scholar
67.Skowronski, DM, Petric, M, Daly, P, et alCoordinated response to SARS, Vancouver, Canada. Emerg Infect Dis. 2006;12:155–158.Google Scholar
68.Mawudeku A, Blench M. Global Public Health Intelligence Network (GPHIN). 7th Conference of the Association for Machine Translation in the Americas, Cambridge, MA, August 8–12, 2006. http://www.mt-archive.info/MTS-2005-Mawudeku.pdf. Accessed March 3, 2009.Google Scholar
69.Madoff, LC, Woodall, JP.The internet and the global monitoring of emerging diseases: lessons from the first 10 years of ProMED-mail. Arch Med Res. 2005;36:724–730.Google Scholar
70.Freifeld, CC, Mandl, KD, Reis, BY, Brownstein, JS.HealthMap: global infectious disease monitoring through automated classification and visualization of internet media reports. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2008;15:150–157.Google Scholar
71.Statement by James M. Wilson V, MD, Chief Technical Officer and Chief Scientist, Veratect Corporation, Before the House Homeland Security Committee, July 16, 2008. http://homeland.house.gov/SiteDocuments/20080716143655-63876.pdf. Accessed March 12, 2009.Google Scholar