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David J. Rothkopf. David J. Rothkopf, chairman of Intellibridge Corp., is a member of the Health Advisory Board of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. This is from The Washington Post.
SARS is the story of not one epidemic but two, and the second epidemic, the one that has largely escaped the headlines, has implications far greater than the disease itself. That is because it is not the viral epidemic but rather an "information epidemic" that has transformed SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, from a bungled Chinese regional health crisis into a global economic and social debacle.
SARS, as is well-known, has taken a heavy toll with more than 7,200 reported victims worldwide and more than 500 reported deaths so far.
But the consequences of the related "epidemic" have been more far- reaching than the underlying disease and, quite possibly, more costly, affecting the lives of millions. What is more, the information epidemic - or "infodemic" - has made the public health crisis harder to control and contain.
What exactly do I mean by the "infodemic"? A few facts, mixed with fear, speculation and rumor, amplified and relayed swiftly worldwide by modern information technologies, have affected national and international economies, politics and even security in ways utterly disproportionate with realities. It is a phenomenon we have seen with greater frequency in recent years -...