Taipei's use of a multi-channel mass risk communication program to rapidly reverse an epidemic of highly communicable disease.

<h4>Background</h4>In September 2007, an outbreak of acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis (AHC) occurred in Keelung City and spread to Taipei City. In response to the epidemic, a new crisis management program was implemented and tested in Taipei.<h4>Methodology and principal findings&l...

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Autores principales:	Muh-Yong Yen, Tsung-Shu Joseph Wu, Allen Wen-Hsiang Chiu, Wing-Wai Wong, Po-En Wang, Ta-Chien Chan, Chwan-Chuen King
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2009
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/560020f4d9494d32981c10f6c04e9654
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:560020f4d9494d32981c10f6c04e96542021-11-25T06:27:55ZTaipei's use of a multi-channel mass risk communication program to rapidly reverse an epidemic of highly communicable disease.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0007962https://doaj.org/article/560020f4d9494d32981c10f6c04e96542009-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/19956722/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203<h4>Background</h4>In September 2007, an outbreak of acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis (AHC) occurred in Keelung City and spread to Taipei City. In response to the epidemic, a new crisis management program was implemented and tested in Taipei.<h4>Methodology and principal findings</h4>Having noticed that transmission surged on weekends during the Keelung epidemic, Taipei City launched a multi-channel mass risk communications program that included short message service (SMS) messages sent directly to approximately 2.2 million Taipei residents on Friday, October 12th, 2007. The public was told to keep symptomatic students from schools and was provided guidelines for preventing the spread of the disease at home. Epidemiological characteristics of Taipei's outbreak were analyzed from 461 sampled AHC cases. Median time from exposure to onset of the disease was 1 day. This was significantly shorter for cases occurring in family clusters than in class clusters (mean+/-SD: 2.6+/-3.2 vs. 4.39+/-4.82 days, p = 0.03), as well as for cases occurring in larger family clusters as opposed to smaller ones (1.2+/-1.7 days vs. 3.9+/-4.0 days, p<0.01). Taipei's program had a significant impact on patient compliance. Home confinement of symptomatic children increased from 10% to 60% (p<0.05) and helped curb the spread of AHC. Taipei experienced a rapid decrease in AHC cases between the Friday of the SMS announcement and the following Monday, October 15, (0.70% vs. 0.36%). By October 26, AHC cases reduced to 0.01%. The success of this risk communication program in Taipei (as compared to Keelung) is further reflected through rapid improvements in three epidemic indicators: (1) significantly lower crude attack rates (1.95% vs. 14.92%, p<0.001), (2) a short epidemic period of AHC (13 vs. 34 days), and (3) a quick drop in risk level (1 approximately 2 weeks) in Taipei districts that border Keelung (the original domestic epicenter).<h4>Conclusions and significance</h4>The timely launch of this systematic, communication-based intervention proved effective at preventing a dangerous spike in AHC and was able to bring this high-risk disease under control. We recommend that public health officials incorporate similar methods into existing guidelines for preventing pandemic influenza and other emerging infectious diseases.Muh-Yong YenTsung-Shu Joseph WuAllen Wen-Hsiang ChiuWing-Wai WongPo-En WangTa-Chien ChanChwan-Chuen KingPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 4, Iss 11, p e7962 (2009)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Muh-Yong Yen Tsung-Shu Joseph Wu Allen Wen-Hsiang Chiu Wing-Wai Wong Po-En Wang Ta-Chien Chan Chwan-Chuen King Taipei's use of a multi-channel mass risk communication program to rapidly reverse an epidemic of highly communicable disease.
description	<h4>Background</h4>In September 2007, an outbreak of acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis (AHC) occurred in Keelung City and spread to Taipei City. In response to the epidemic, a new crisis management program was implemented and tested in Taipei.<h4>Methodology and principal findings</h4>Having noticed that transmission surged on weekends during the Keelung epidemic, Taipei City launched a multi-channel mass risk communications program that included short message service (SMS) messages sent directly to approximately 2.2 million Taipei residents on Friday, October 12th, 2007. The public was told to keep symptomatic students from schools and was provided guidelines for preventing the spread of the disease at home. Epidemiological characteristics of Taipei's outbreak were analyzed from 461 sampled AHC cases. Median time from exposure to onset of the disease was 1 day. This was significantly shorter for cases occurring in family clusters than in class clusters (mean+/-SD: 2.6+/-3.2 vs. 4.39+/-4.82 days, p = 0.03), as well as for cases occurring in larger family clusters as opposed to smaller ones (1.2+/-1.7 days vs. 3.9+/-4.0 days, p<0.01). Taipei's program had a significant impact on patient compliance. Home confinement of symptomatic children increased from 10% to 60% (p<0.05) and helped curb the spread of AHC. Taipei experienced a rapid decrease in AHC cases between the Friday of the SMS announcement and the following Monday, October 15, (0.70% vs. 0.36%). By October 26, AHC cases reduced to 0.01%. The success of this risk communication program in Taipei (as compared to Keelung) is further reflected through rapid improvements in three epidemic indicators: (1) significantly lower crude attack rates (1.95% vs. 14.92%, p<0.001), (2) a short epidemic period of AHC (13 vs. 34 days), and (3) a quick drop in risk level (1 approximately 2 weeks) in Taipei districts that border Keelung (the original domestic epicenter).<h4>Conclusions and significance</h4>The timely launch of this systematic, communication-based intervention proved effective at preventing a dangerous spike in AHC and was able to bring this high-risk disease under control. We recommend that public health officials incorporate similar methods into existing guidelines for preventing pandemic influenza and other emerging infectious diseases.
format	article
author	Muh-Yong Yen Tsung-Shu Joseph Wu Allen Wen-Hsiang Chiu Wing-Wai Wong Po-En Wang Ta-Chien Chan Chwan-Chuen King
author_facet	Muh-Yong Yen Tsung-Shu Joseph Wu Allen Wen-Hsiang Chiu Wing-Wai Wong Po-En Wang Ta-Chien Chan Chwan-Chuen King
author_sort	Muh-Yong Yen
title	Taipei's use of a multi-channel mass risk communication program to rapidly reverse an epidemic of highly communicable disease.
title_short	Taipei's use of a multi-channel mass risk communication program to rapidly reverse an epidemic of highly communicable disease.
title_full	Taipei's use of a multi-channel mass risk communication program to rapidly reverse an epidemic of highly communicable disease.
title_fullStr	Taipei's use of a multi-channel mass risk communication program to rapidly reverse an epidemic of highly communicable disease.
title_full_unstemmed	Taipei's use of a multi-channel mass risk communication program to rapidly reverse an epidemic of highly communicable disease.
title_sort	taipei's use of a multi-channel mass risk communication program to rapidly reverse an epidemic of highly communicable disease.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2009
url	https://doaj.org/article/560020f4d9494d32981c10f6c04e9654
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Taipei's use of a multi-channel mass risk communication program to rapidly reverse an epidemic of highly communicable disease.

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