AI.COMM - Avian and Pandemic Influenza Resource Link

RISK PERCEPTION AND BIRD FLU FATIGUE
From the earliest days, risk perception
was a vexing issue to contend with.
Depending on the population and its
geographic proximity to avian infl uenza
outbreaks, perception of the dangers of
AI – and consequent willingness to change
behaviors to avert these dangers –
varied widely.
The initial target audience of small backyard
poultry farmers was accustomed to
a large proportion of their poultry fl ocks
dying off, and were unfazed by yet another
disease that felled their poultry. Many
had been raising poultry for their entire
lives, and were resistant to hearing about
changes to their ingrained practices from
“outsiders” – especially because these
behaviors had been practiced for years
without negative consequences (e.g., eating
poultry that had recently died had never
been harmful before). For countries or
regions where the virus was not a threat or
the virus had not turned into the anticipated
pandemic, a combination of loss of
credibility and low risk perception set in
and culminated in bird fl u fatigue.
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