Impact of disease characteristics and knowledge on public risk perception of Zoonoses

Zoonoses represent a global public health threat. Understanding lay perceptions of risk associated with these diseases can better inform proportionate policy interventions that mitigate their current and future impacts. While individual zoonoses (e.g. Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) have received scientific and public attention, we know little about how multiple zoonotic diseases vary relative to each other in lay risk perceptions. To this end, we examined public perceptions of eleven zoonoses across twelve qualitative attributes of risk among the UK public (n = 727, volunteer sample), using an online survey. We found that attribute ratings were predominantly explained via two basic dimensions of risk related to public knowledge and dread. We also show that, despite participants reporting low familiarity with most of the diseases presented, zoonoses were perceived as essentially avoidable. These findings imply that infection is viewed as dependent upon actions under personal control w...

人畜共患病（Zoonoses）是全球性的公共卫生威胁。了解公众对这类疾病相关风险的认知，可为制定适度的政策干预措施提供更充分的依据，从而减轻此类疾病当前及未来的危害。尽管单一的人畜共患病（如牛海绵状脑病（Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy））已获得科学界与公众的广泛关注，但我们对公众风险认知中多种人畜共患病之间的相对差异仍知之甚少。为此，我们通过在线调查，对英国公众（n = 727，志愿者样本）开展研究，考察其对11种人畜共患病在12项风险定性特征上的认知情况。研究发现，各项特征评分主要由与公众认知及风险恐惧相关的两个核心风险维度所决定。此外，尽管参与者表示对所提及的多数疾病熟悉度较低，但公众普遍认为人畜共患病本质上是可避免的。上述研究结果表明，感染与否被视为取决于个人可控范围内的行为……