Raza G, Dutt B, Singh S
National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies, New Delhi, India.
Public Underst Sci. 1997 Jul;6(3):247-67. doi: 10.1088/0963-6625/6/3/004.
In September 1994 a plague epidemic hit a number of cities in India. Though the spread of the disease was controlled within a short period of about one month, its influences on various channels of information, on the functioning of government departments (especially health and sanitation), on the scientific community and on people's scientific information level were remarkable. This paper analyzes the responses of 1127 individuals interviewed in December 1994. The data indicates high levels of informedness about health, hygiene and plague, with little reference to extra-scientific explanations of the causes of the epidemic. Respondents expressed a high degree of confidence in the modern system of medicine. From this analysis we also infer that the public could not be described as 'superstitious', 'unscientific' or 'unhygienic': only when denied access to information and civic amenities did they show extra-scientific thinking or 'unhygienic' behaviour.
1994年9月，一场瘟疫在印度的多个城市爆发。尽管这场疾病的传播在短短约一个月的时间内得到了控制，但其对各种信息渠道、政府部门（尤其是卫生和环卫部门）的运作、科学界以及人们的科学信息水平所产生的影响却是显著的。本文分析了1994年12月接受访谈的1127人的反应。数据表明，人们对健康、卫生和瘟疫有很高的认知水平，很少提及对该流行病病因的非科学解释。受访者对现代医学体系表现出高度的信任。从这一分析中我们还推断，不能将公众描述为“迷信”、“不科学”或“不卫生”：只有当他们无法获取信息和城市便利设施时，才会表现出非科学思维或“不卫生”行为。
