Browsing by Author "Jephcott, F.L."
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Item Ebola, Bats and Evidence-Based Policy(EcoHealth, 2015-08) Wood, J.L.N.; Cunningham, A.A.; Suu-Ire, R.D.; Jephcott, F.L.; Ntiamoa-Baidu, Y.At the time of writing, West Africa is still dealing with the worst known Ebola epidemic . Quite rightly, the international focus has been on reducing the transmission rate of this dise a se until it is eradicated from the human population. Once the epidemic curve has declined to this point, scientific attention should be re - directed to the prevention of future zoonotic outbreaks. There already has been much written on how the West African epidemic might have been sparked, but speculation often has been presented as fact and in some cases has been contrary to available evidence. Such inaccurate reporting on the drivers of the emergence of this epidemic is unfortunate , as this can influence p olicy decisions while failing to identify how Ebola and other serious zoonoses should be controlledItem Ineffective responses to unlikely outbreaks: Hypothesis building in newly-emerging infectious disease outbreaks(Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 2023) Jephcott, F.L.; Wood, J.L.N.; Bonney, J.H.K.; et al.Over the last 30 years, there has been significant investment in research and infrastructure aimed at mitigating the threat of newly emerging infectious diseases (NEID). Core epidemiological processes, such as outbreak investigations, however, have received little attention and have proceeded largely unchecked and unimproved. Using ethnographic material from an investigation into cryptic encephalitis outbreak in the Brong-Ahafo Region of Ghana in 2010– In 2013, in this paper, we trace processes of hypothesis building and their relationship to the organizational structures of the response. We demonstrate how commonly recurring features of NEID investigations produce selective pressures in hypothesis building that favors iterations of pre-existing “exciting” hypotheses and inhibit the pursuit of alternative hypotheses, regardless of relative likelihood. These findings contribute to the growing anthropological, scientific, and technology studies (STS) literature on the epistemic communities that coalesce around suspected NEID outbreaks and highlight an urgent need for greater scrutiny of core epidemiological processes.