Washing away Ebola : environmental stress, rumor, and ethnomedical response in a deadly epidemic
- Author
- Ivo Ntiege Mesumbe Ngade, Merrill Singer, Olivia Marcus and Jose E Hasemann Lara
- Organization
- Abstract
- Summary Emerging infectious diseases are a critical issue in contemporary global environmental health. The 2014/15 Ebola epidemic in West Africa has become the large most widespread outbreak of the disease to date, Among its various impacts, the epidemic triggered a proliferation of emergent ethnomedical cultural responses. With the appearance of cases in Nigeria, information about these practices quickly spread through social media and other communication channels into neighboring Cameroon as people attempted to assuage their uncertainty and significant fear of the disease. We assess this process of information-sharing about ethnomedical practices like salt-water baths and drinking as an Ebola preventive in light of theories on the spread of rumors. Rumors are mechanisms groups use to help order their experience of reality during times of environmental uncertainty and growing confusion; however, rumors can also impact public attitudes and behaviors in ways that expose individuals to greater risk. Based on data collected from 90 interviews with participants in two cities in Cameroon, we demonstrate that information on the prophylactic use of salt-water baths and drinking spread quickly and widely. This case affirms that people do not remain passive during times of an environmental emergency and that work in environmental health must pay heed to processes of rumor formation, spread, and impact. Keywords: Ebola; social stress;rumor; epidemics; ethnomedicine
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-8522620
- MLA
- Ngade, Ivo Ntiege Mesumbe, et al. “Washing Away Ebola : Environmental Stress, Rumor, and Ethnomedical Response in a Deadly Epidemic.” A Companion to the Anthropology of Environmental Health, edited by Merrill Singer, John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2016, pp. 157–75, doi:10.1002/9781118786949.
- APA
- Ngade, I. N. M., Singer, M., Marcus, O., & Hasemann Lara, J. E. (2016). Washing away Ebola : environmental stress, rumor, and ethnomedical response in a deadly epidemic. In M. Singer (Ed.), A companion to the anthropology of environmental health (pp. 157–175). https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118786949
- Chicago author-date
- Ngade, Ivo Ntiege Mesumbe, Merrill Singer, Olivia Marcus, and Jose E Hasemann Lara. 2016. “Washing Away Ebola : Environmental Stress, Rumor, and Ethnomedical Response in a Deadly Epidemic.” In A Companion to the Anthropology of Environmental Health, edited by Merrill Singer, 157–75. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118786949.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Ngade, Ivo Ntiege Mesumbe, Merrill Singer, Olivia Marcus, and Jose E Hasemann Lara. 2016. “Washing Away Ebola : Environmental Stress, Rumor, and Ethnomedical Response in a Deadly Epidemic.” In A Companion to the Anthropology of Environmental Health, ed by. Merrill Singer, 157–175. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. doi:10.1002/9781118786949.
- Vancouver
- 1.Ngade INM, Singer M, Marcus O, Hasemann Lara JE. Washing away Ebola : environmental stress, rumor, and ethnomedical response in a deadly epidemic. In: Singer M, editor. A companion to the anthropology of environmental health. John Wiley & Sons, Inc; 2016. p. 157–75.
- IEEE
- [1]I. N. M. Ngade, M. Singer, O. Marcus, and J. E. Hasemann Lara, “Washing away Ebola : environmental stress, rumor, and ethnomedical response in a deadly epidemic,” in A companion to the anthropology of environmental health, M. Singer, Ed. John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2016, pp. 157–175.
@incollection{8522620,
abstract = {{Summary
Emerging infectious diseases are a critical issue in contemporary global environmental health. The 2014/15 Ebola epidemic in West Africa has become the large most widespread outbreak of the disease to date, Among its various impacts, the epidemic triggered a proliferation of emergent ethnomedical cultural responses. With the appearance of cases in Nigeria, information about these practices quickly spread through social media and other communication channels into neighboring Cameroon as people attempted to assuage their uncertainty and significant fear of the disease. We assess this process of information-sharing about ethnomedical practices like salt-water baths and drinking as an Ebola preventive in light of theories on the spread of rumors. Rumors are mechanisms groups use to help order their experience of reality during times of environmental uncertainty and growing confusion; however, rumors can also impact public attitudes and behaviors in ways that expose individuals to greater risk. Based on data collected from 90 interviews with participants in two cities in Cameroon, we demonstrate that information on the prophylactic use of salt-water baths and drinking spread quickly and widely. This case affirms that people do not remain passive during times of an environmental emergency and that work in environmental health must pay heed to processes of rumor formation, spread, and impact.
Keywords:
Ebola; social stress;rumor; epidemics; ethnomedicine}},
author = {{Ngade, Ivo Ntiege Mesumbe and Singer, Merrill and Marcus, Olivia and Hasemann Lara, Jose E}},
booktitle = {{A companion to the anthropology of environmental health}},
editor = {{Singer, Merrill}},
isbn = {{9781118786949}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{157--175}},
publisher = {{John Wiley & Sons, Inc}},
title = {{Washing away Ebola : environmental stress, rumor, and ethnomedical response in a deadly epidemic}},
url = {{http://doi.org/10.1002/9781118786949}},
year = {{2016}},
}
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