What We Have Learned from Two Decades of Epidemics and Pandemics: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Psychological Burden of Frontline Healthcare Workers.

In light of the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and potential future infectious disease outbreaks, a comprehensive understanding of the negative effects of epidemics and pandemics on healthcare workers' mental health could inform appropriate support interventions. Thus, we aimed to synthesize and quantify the psychological and psychosomatic symptoms among frontline medical staff. We searched four databases up to March 19, 2020 and additional literature, with daily search alerts set up until October 26, 2020. Studies reporting psychological and/or psychosomatic symptoms of healthcare workers caring for patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome, H1N1, Ebola, Middle East respiratory syndrome, or COVID-19 were eligible for inclusion. Two reviewers independently conducted the search, study selection, quality appraisal, data extraction, and synthesis and involved a third reviewer in case of disagreement. We used random effects modeling to estimate the overall prevalence rates of psychological/psychosomatic symptoms and the I2 statistic. We included 86 studies, reporting data from 75,991 participants. Frontline staff showed a wide range of symptoms, including concern about transmitting the virus to the family (60.39%, 95% CI 42.53-76.96), perceived stress (56.77%, 95% CI 34.21-77.95), concerns about own health (45.97%, 95% CI 31.08-61.23), sleeping difficulties (39.88%, 95% CI 27.70-52.72), burnout (31.81%, 95% CI 13.32-53.89), symptoms of depression (25.72%, 95% CI 18.34-33.86), symptoms of anxiety (25.36%, 95% CI 17.90-33.64), symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (24.51%, 95% CI 18.16-31.46), mental health issues (23.11%, 95% CI 15.98-31.10), and symptoms of somatization (14.68%, 95% CI 10.67-19.18). We found consistent evidence for the pervasive and profound impact of large-scale outbreaks on the mental health of frontline healthcare workers. As the CO-VID-19 crisis continues to unfold, guaranteeing easy access to support structures for the entire healthcare workforce is vitally important.

One novel virus, different beliefs as playmakers towards disease spread in Africa: looking at COVID-19 from a religious lens.

Religious and spiritual observances that draw large people together are pervasive in many parts of the world, including Africa. With the recent emergence of COVID-19, these mass religious gatherings may pose significant threats to human health. Given the compromised healthcare systems in many parts of Africa, faith-based institutions have a huge responsibility towards the management of the potential spread of the virus through effective organizational strategies or interventions. This essay sheds light on what the novel virus has to do with religion, the role of religious practices in inhibiting or spreading COVID-19, and what appropriate evidence-based interventions religious or faith-based organizations could adopt to help prevent the spread of the disease in Africa through a unity of thoughts for religious action.

[Epidemic emergencies and social stigma. Which lessons should we learn from SARS and Ebola epidemics for the current CoViD-19 pandemics?] / Emergenze epidemiche e stigma sociale. Quali insegnamenti trarre dalle precedenti epidemie di SARS ed Ebola da applicare nell'attuale pandemia CoViD-19?

Scientific literature produced during the most recent international epidemic emergencies, such as SARS and Ebola, highlights that infected persons are often labeled, rejected, discriminated and subjected to loss of status due to their perceived link with the disease. Such experiences of discrimination may have detrimental effects on both patients, their family members, friends and communities. It is also possible that those who have been infected with COVD-19 may experience shame, guilt and sense of isolation arising from social stigma. It is therefore important to take full advantage of experiences gained during past epidemic crises, in order to implement timely measures to tackle this further negative consequence of the pandemic.

Who's afraid of Ebola? Epidemic fires and locative fears in the Information Age.

Epidemics have traditionally been viewed as the widespread occurrence of infectious disease within a community, or a sudden increase above what is typical. But modern epidemics are both more and less than the diffusion of viral entities. We argue that epidemics are 'fire objects', using a term coined by Law and Singleton: They generate locative fears through encounters that focus attention on entities that are unknown or imprecisely known, transforming spaces and humans into indeterminate dangers, alternating appearance and absence. The Ebola epidemic of 2014 had more complex impacts than the number of infections would suggest. We employ multi-sited qualitative interviews to argue that locative fear is the essence of modern global epidemics. In the discussion we contrast Ebola with both the Zika epidemic that followed and the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.