An agent-based model about the effects of fake news on a norovirus outbreak

Brainard, Julii, Hunter, Paul R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5608-6144 and Hall, Ian R. (2018) An agent-based model about the effects of fake news on a norovirus outbreak. In: East of England Public Health Conference 2018, 2018-10-30 - 2018-10-30, Stansted Airport.

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Abstract

Concern about health misinformation is longstanding, especially on the Internet. Using agent-based models, we considered the effects of such misinformation on a norovirus outbreak, and some methods for countering the possible impacts of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ health advice. The work explicitly models spread of physical disease and information (both online and offline) as two separate but interacting processes. The models have multiple stochastic elements; repeat model runs were made to identify parameter values that most consistently produced the desired target baseline scenario. Next, parameters were found that most consistently led to a scenario when outbreak severity was clearly made worse by circulating poor quality disease prevention advice. Strategies to counter ‘fake’ health news were tested. A 10% reduction in circulating bad advice or making at least 20% of people fully resistant to believing in and sharing bad health advice were effective thresholds to counteract the negative impacts of bad advice during a norovirus outbreak. How feasible it is to achieve these targets within communication networks (online and offline) should be explored.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Poster)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	agent-based-models,outbreak,norovirus,fake news,filter bubbles
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Public Health and Health Services Research (former - to 2023) Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Epidemiology and Public Health Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Water Security Research Centre Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Population Health
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	24 Oct 2018 10:30
Last Modified:	19 Oct 2023 04:01
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/68618
DOI:

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