Efficient Use of Social Media During the Avian Influenza A(H7N9) Emergency Response

Authors

Isaac Fung, Georgia Southern University, Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public HealthFollow
Karen Wong, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2013

Publication Title

Western Pacific Surveillance and Response Journal

DOI

10.5365/wpsar.2013.4.3.005

Abstract

During the 2013 outbreak of human infections of avian influenza A(H7N9), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) used official data released by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Chinese government to keep United States public health officials informed of updates of the outbreak.¹ The Chinese central government released official avian influenza A(H7N9) data via its web sites (e.g. National Health and Family Planning Commission²), their official news agency (Xinhua News Agency) and their official newspapers (e.g. People’s Daily, Beijing). In addition, official avian influenza A(H7N9) information was released by Chinese provincial and municipal governments such as Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Health,³ Jiangsu Department of Health⁴ and Zhejiang Department of Health.⁵ Prior studies have discussed the role of social media in the early detection of disease outbreaks^6–9 and the facilitation of community-level discussion.¹⁰ In this perspective, we focus on the use of social media by public health agencies to disseminate and obtain official outbreak information during a public health emergency response.

Recommended Citation

Fung, Isaac, Karen Wong. 2013. "Efficient Use of Social Media During the Avian Influenza A(H7N9) Emergency Response." Western Pacific Surveillance and Response Journal, 4 (4): 1-3. doi: 10.5365/wpsar.2013.4.3.005
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/epid-facpubs/43