Through a comparative analysis of Spanish newspaper coverage of the 1918 flu and COVID-19 pandemics, this article explores the parallels between them, their roles in reflecting and facilitating public perceptions of infectious diseases, the national dialogues they incite, and the search for solutions in a global health crisis. I use qualitative analysis to interpret media themes of contagion as they shift from societal complacency to panic as disaster unfolds. In weaving together Philip Strong’s model for epidemic psychology and Jim A. Kuypers’s rhetorical approach to news framing, I analyze how newspapers communicate changing assumptions about epidemiologic risks during pandemics.
Three techniques for the detection of rotavirus in faecal samples from calves with neonatal gastroenteritis were compared. A preliminary study indicated that reverse passive haemagglutination (RPHA) was at least as sensitive as the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). These two immunoassays were compared with the detection of viral RNA by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) on 209 field samples. Of the 77 samples in which at least one test gave a positive result, 69 were positive by both RPHA and PAGE, but only 49 were also positive by ELISA, indicating a lower sensitivity for the latter test. The overall agreement between RPHA and PAGE was 96%. The reasons for the discrepancies between the tests are discussed.
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