Internet-based media coverage on dengue in Sri Lanka between 2007 and 2015
Background: Internet-based media coverage to explore the extent of awareness of a disease and perceived severity of an outbreak at a national level can be used for early outbreak detection. Dengue has emerged as a major public health problem in Sri Lanka since 2009. Objective: To compare Internet re...
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doaj-456873f437794cf7ac159b13ad4acd412020-11-24T23:50:18ZengTaylor & Francis GroupGlobal Health Action1654-98802016-05-01901510.3402/gha.v9.3162031620Internet-based media coverage on dengue in Sri Lanka between 2007 and 2015Annelies Wilder-Smith0Emily Cohn1David C. Lloyd2Yesim Tozan3John S. Brownstein4 Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Institute of Public Health, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USABackground: Internet-based media coverage to explore the extent of awareness of a disease and perceived severity of an outbreak at a national level can be used for early outbreak detection. Dengue has emerged as a major public health problem in Sri Lanka since 2009. Objective: To compare Internet references to dengue in Sri Lana with references to other diseases (malaria and influenza) in Sri Lanka and to compare Internet references to dengue in Sri Lanka with notified cases of dengue in Sri Lanka. Design: We examined Internet-based news media articles on dengue queried from HealthMap for Sri Lanka, for the period January 2007 to November 2015. For comparative purposes, we compared hits on dengue with hits on influenza and malaria. Results: There were 565 hits on dengue between 2007 and 2015, with a rapid rise in 2009 and followed by a rising trend ever since. These hits were highly correlated with the national epidemiological trend of dengue. The volume of digital media coverage of dengue was much higher than of influenza and malaria. Conclusions: Dengue in Sri Lanka is receiving increasing media attention. Our findings underpin previous claims that digital media reports reflect national epidemiological trends, both in annual trends and inter-annual seasonal variation, thus acting as proxy biosurveillance to provide early warning and situation awareness of emerging infectious diseases.http://www.globalhealthaction.net/index.php/gha/article/view/31620/pdf_273denguemedianews coverageInternetemergence of dengueawareness about denguemalariainfluenzaHealthmapSri Lanka |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Annelies Wilder-Smith Emily Cohn David C. Lloyd Yesim Tozan John S. Brownstein |
spellingShingle |
Annelies Wilder-Smith Emily Cohn David C. Lloyd Yesim Tozan John S. Brownstein Internet-based media coverage on dengue in Sri Lanka between 2007 and 2015 Global Health Action dengue media news coverage Internet emergence of dengue awareness about dengue malaria influenza Healthmap Sri Lanka |
author_facet |
Annelies Wilder-Smith Emily Cohn David C. Lloyd Yesim Tozan John S. Brownstein |
author_sort |
Annelies Wilder-Smith |
title |
Internet-based media coverage on dengue in Sri Lanka between 2007 and 2015 |
title_short |
Internet-based media coverage on dengue in Sri Lanka between 2007 and 2015 |
title_full |
Internet-based media coverage on dengue in Sri Lanka between 2007 and 2015 |
title_fullStr |
Internet-based media coverage on dengue in Sri Lanka between 2007 and 2015 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Internet-based media coverage on dengue in Sri Lanka between 2007 and 2015 |
title_sort |
internet-based media coverage on dengue in sri lanka between 2007 and 2015 |
publisher |
Taylor & Francis Group |
series |
Global Health Action |
issn |
1654-9880 |
publishDate |
2016-05-01 |
description |
Background: Internet-based media coverage to explore the extent of awareness of a disease and perceived severity of an outbreak at a national level can be used for early outbreak detection. Dengue has emerged as a major public health problem in Sri Lanka since 2009. Objective: To compare Internet references to dengue in Sri Lana with references to other diseases (malaria and influenza) in Sri Lanka and to compare Internet references to dengue in Sri Lanka with notified cases of dengue in Sri Lanka. Design: We examined Internet-based news media articles on dengue queried from HealthMap for Sri Lanka, for the period January 2007 to November 2015. For comparative purposes, we compared hits on dengue with hits on influenza and malaria. Results: There were 565 hits on dengue between 2007 and 2015, with a rapid rise in 2009 and followed by a rising trend ever since. These hits were highly correlated with the national epidemiological trend of dengue. The volume of digital media coverage of dengue was much higher than of influenza and malaria. Conclusions: Dengue in Sri Lanka is receiving increasing media attention. Our findings underpin previous claims that digital media reports reflect national epidemiological trends, both in annual trends and inter-annual seasonal variation, thus acting as proxy biosurveillance to provide early warning and situation awareness of emerging infectious diseases. |
topic |
dengue media news coverage Internet emergence of dengue awareness about dengue malaria influenza Healthmap Sri Lanka |
url |
http://www.globalhealthaction.net/index.php/gha/article/view/31620/pdf_273 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT annelieswildersmith internetbasedmediacoverageondengueinsrilankabetween2007and2015 AT emilycohn internetbasedmediacoverageondengueinsrilankabetween2007and2015 AT davidclloyd internetbasedmediacoverageondengueinsrilankabetween2007and2015 AT yesimtozan internetbasedmediacoverageondengueinsrilankabetween2007and2015 AT johnsbrownstein internetbasedmediacoverageondengueinsrilankabetween2007and2015 |
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