Epidemiology: A Very Short Introduction. Rodolfo Saracci.

Abstract

Effective public health is based on trust.1 At the same time we live in a world where newspapers increase circulation by running health ‘scare’ stories. For evidence of this, see the highly entertaining Facebook list of things featured in the Daily Mail as causes of cancer, which includes both dogs and talcum powder!2 Consequently, it is not surprising, indeed it is probably a positive thing, that there is increasing public scepticism about health claims in the media. More worrying, in a recent qualitative study investigating the Measles, Mumps \\& Rubella (MMR) vaccination controversy, parents not only thought politicians untrustworthy when it came to health advice, but also saw primary health-care professionals as having a vested interest.3 Yet, the doctor whose research sparked the controversy, Andrew Wakefield, was seen as a champion of ordinary parents.3 The general public is increasingly media- and less science-savvy; more students now take A-level media studies than either physics or geography.4 Furthermore, in the eyes of many MMR, ‘Mad Cow’ disease, bird flu and swine flu have all threatened, but failed to deliver. All this seems an unlikely basis for trust and effective public health. Perhaps, epidemiology has a public relations (PR) problem? At the very least, there is clearly great scope for increasing public understanding of the science of epidemiology.