PLoS One
[Accessed 13 June 2015]
http://www.plosone.org/

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Research Article
Can Economic Analysis Contribute to Disease Elimination and Eradication? A Systematic Review
Elisa Sicuri, David B. Evans, Fabrizio Tediosi
Published: June 12, 2015
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130603
Abstract
Background
Infectious diseases elimination and eradication have become important areas of focus for global health and countries. Due to the substantial up-front investments required to eliminate and eradicate, and the overall shortage of resources for health, economic analysis can inform decision making on whether elimination/eradication makes economic sense and on the costs and benefits of alternative strategies. In order to draw lessons for current and future initiatives, we review the economic literature that has addressed questions related to the elimination and eradication of infectious diseases focusing on: why, how and for whom?
Methods
A systematic review was performed by searching economic literature (cost-benefit, cost-effectiveness and economic impact analyses) on elimination/eradication of infectious diseases published from 1980 to 2013 from three large bibliographic databases: one general (SCOPUS), one bio-medical (MEDLINE/PUBMED) and one economic (IDEAS/REPEC).
Results
A total of 690 non-duplicate papers were identified from which only 43 met the inclusion criteria. In addition, only one paper focusing on equity issues, the “for whom?” question, was found. The literature relating to “why?” is the largest, much of it focusing on how much it would cost. A more limited literature estimates the benefits in terms of impact on economic growth with mixed results. The question of how to eradicate or eliminate was informed by an economic literature highlighting that there will be opportunities for individuals and countries to free-ride and that forms of incentives and/or disincentives will be needed. This requires government involvement at country level and global coordination. While there is little doubt that eliminating infectious diseases will eventually improve equity, it will only happen if active steps to promote equity are followed on the path to elimination and eradication.
Conclusion
The largest part of the literature has focused on costs and economic benefits of elimination/eradication. To a lesser extent, challenges associated with achieving elimination/eradication and ensuring equity have also been explored. Although elimination and eradication are, for some diseases, good investments compared with control, countries’ incentives to eliminate do not always align with the global good and the most efficient elimination strategies may not prioritize the poorest populations. For any infectious disease, policy-makers will need to consider realigning contrasting incentives between the individual countries and the global community and to assure that the process towards elimination/eradication considers equity.

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Research Article
Mass Media and the Contagion of Fear: The Case of Ebola in America
Sherry Towers, Shehzad Afzal, Gilbert Bernal, Nadya Bliss, Shala Brown, Baltazar Espinoza, Jasmine Jackson, Julia Judson-Garcia, Maryam Khan, Michael Lin, Robert Mamada, Victor M. Moreno, Fereshteh Nazari, [ … ], Carlos Castillo-Chavez
Published: June 11, 2015
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0129179
Abstract
Background
In the weeks following the first imported case of Ebola in the U. S. on September 29, 2014, coverage of the very limited outbreak dominated the news media, in a manner quite disproportionate to the actual threat to national public health; by the end of October, 2014, there were only four laboratory confirmed cases of Ebola in the entire nation. Public interest in these events was high, as reflected in the millions of Ebola-related Internet searches and tweets performed in the month following the first confirmed case. Use of trending Internet searches and tweets has been proposed in the past for real-time prediction of outbreaks (a field referred to as “digital epidemiology”), but accounting for the biases of public panic has been problematic. In the case of the limited U. S. Ebola outbreak, we know that the Ebola-related searches and tweets originating the U. S. during the outbreak were due only to public interest or panic, providing an unprecedented means to determine how these dynamics affect such data, and how news media may be driving these trends.
Methodology
We examine daily Ebola-related Internet search and Twitter data in the U. S. during the six week period ending Oct 31, 2014. TV news coverage data were obtained from the daily number of Ebola-related news videos appearing on two major news networks. We fit the parameters of a mathematical contagion model to the data to determine if the news coverage was a significant factor in the temporal patterns in Ebola-related Internet and Twitter data.
Conclusions
We find significant evidence of contagion, with each Ebola-related news video inspiring tens of thousands of Ebola-related tweets and Internet searches. Between 65% to 76% of the variance in all samples is described by the news media contagion model.

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Vaccination Coverage and Compliance with Three Recommended Schedules of 10-Valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine during the First Year of Its Introduction in Brazil: A Cross-Sectional Study
Fabricia Oliveira Saraiva, Ruth Minamisava, Maria Aparecida da Silva Vieira, Ana Luiza Bierrenbach, Ana Lucia Andrade
Research Article | published 10 Jun 2015 | PLOS ONE 10.1371/journal.pone.0128656.

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Understanding Public Perceptions of the HPV Vaccination Based on Online Comments to Canadian News Articles
Yael Feinberg, Jennifer A. Pereira, Susan Quach, Jeffrey C. Kwong, Natasha S. Crowcroft, Sarah E. Wilson, Maryse Guay, Yang Lei, Shelley L. Deeks, Public Health Agency of Canada/Canadian Institutes of Health Research Influenza Research Network (PCIRN) Program Delivery and Evaluation Group
Research Article | published 08 Jun 2015 | PLOS ONE 10.1371/journal.pone.0129587