Creating Peru’s patient zero: pandemic narratives through traditional and social media

Abstract During the covid-19 pandemic, authorities, journalists, and the public used the term patient zero to refer to the first diagnosed patient. However, experts describe the term as imprecise because it equates the first infected patient with the first identified one. Although the term’s inaccur...

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Main Author: Alejandra Ruiz-León
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Casa de Oswaldo Cruz 2023-09-01
Series:História, Ciências, Saúde: Manguinhos
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-59702023000200206&lng=en&tlng=en
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author Alejandra Ruiz-León
author_facet Alejandra Ruiz-León
author_sort Alejandra Ruiz-León
collection DOAJ
description Abstract During the covid-19 pandemic, authorities, journalists, and the public used the term patient zero to refer to the first diagnosed patient. However, experts describe the term as imprecise because it equates the first infected patient with the first identified one. Although the term’s inaccuracy, patients zero became relevant actors and sources of information during the pandemic. This was the case with the Peruvian patient zero, who had public media participation and opened his Instagram to establish a communication channel with the public. Despite knowing the term’s inaccuracy, he felt responsible for the audience and sought to give his testimony. The Peruvian case shows how patients zero respond to the public interest and establish their agency through traditional and social media.
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publisher Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Casa de Oswaldo Cruz
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series História, Ciências, Saúde: Manguinhos
spelling doaj-art-7a84bd31e22e476da99e6e2a577bdb562025-08-20T03:14:57ZengFundação Oswaldo Cruz, Casa de Oswaldo CruzHistória, Ciências, Saúde: Manguinhos1678-47582023-09-0130suppl 110.1590/s0104-59702023000100049Creating Peru’s patient zero: pandemic narratives through traditional and social mediaAlejandra Ruiz-Leónhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-9555-8984Abstract During the covid-19 pandemic, authorities, journalists, and the public used the term patient zero to refer to the first diagnosed patient. However, experts describe the term as imprecise because it equates the first infected patient with the first identified one. Although the term’s inaccuracy, patients zero became relevant actors and sources of information during the pandemic. This was the case with the Peruvian patient zero, who had public media participation and opened his Instagram to establish a communication channel with the public. Despite knowing the term’s inaccuracy, he felt responsible for the audience and sought to give his testimony. The Peruvian case shows how patients zero respond to the public interest and establish their agency through traditional and social media.http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-59702023000200206&lng=en&tlng=enCovid-19PeruPatient zeroSocial mediaHistory of medicine
spellingShingle Alejandra Ruiz-León
Creating Peru’s patient zero: pandemic narratives through traditional and social media
História, Ciências, Saúde: Manguinhos
Covid-19
Peru
Patient zero
Social media
History of medicine
title Creating Peru’s patient zero: pandemic narratives through traditional and social media
title_full Creating Peru’s patient zero: pandemic narratives through traditional and social media
title_fullStr Creating Peru’s patient zero: pandemic narratives through traditional and social media
title_full_unstemmed Creating Peru’s patient zero: pandemic narratives through traditional and social media
title_short Creating Peru’s patient zero: pandemic narratives through traditional and social media
title_sort creating peru s patient zero pandemic narratives through traditional and social media
topic Covid-19
Peru
Patient zero
Social media
History of medicine
url http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-59702023000200206&lng=en&tlng=en
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