Contagious Disease Outbreaks

Emergence and Spread

Deception can play a significant role in the emergence and spread of contagious diseases. For instance, the presence of an infection can go undetected if the methods for monitoring and reporting a contamination are hidden or not reported. Such was the case when waterborne contamination raised alarm in the Canadian community of Walkerton, Ontario, in May 2000. Dangerous amounts of E. coli and other pathogens were discovered in the water supply, affecting more than 2,300 individuals. A total of 65 people were hospitalized, 27 developed a potentially fatal kidney disease, and seven individuals died from infection. The provincial government launched an investigation into the causes and source of the contamination. This investigation revealed that the number of collections of samples for testing was far below the minimum number required, although this number was over-reported. Moreover, the logs used to keep track of sample chlorine levels were routinely falsified with fictitious entries. Although not the sole cause of the contamination, these deceptive practices had implications for the delay in reporting dangerous levels of pathogens, which could have prevented some or all of the illnesses and deaths that resulted.

Government Propaganda

The threat of a contagious disease can be deceptively used to instill fear in the public, and even reinforce hatred and discrimination against a group of people. Among the many propaganda campaigns that Nazi Germany used against the Jewish population was the claim that Jews were “filthy” and to blame for spreading typhus and other diseases. This particular campaign was prevalent in occupied Poland and was targeted toward Catholic Poles. Propaganda that Jews spread diseases was a recurrent theme used to justify quarantining Jewish communities into ghettos and isolating them from the rest of the German and Polish populations. Quarantine signs were often posted at entrances to these ghettos to prevent non-Jews from entering and seeing the poor living conditions endured within. This threat of disease evolved into a self-fulfilling prophesy as the poor sanitation and water quality within the ghettos gave rise to typhus and other infections.

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