Daily Research News Online no. 2395 - Canadians Cool About SARS, Not Cowed by BSE

Canadians Cool About SARS, Not Cowed by BSE

June 4 2003

In the last two months, despite the recent resurgence of the disease in Toronto, Canadians' personal fears over SARS have declined, according to a new Ipsos-Reid/CTV/Globe and Mail poll released last week. They are also less worried than they were about BSE, despite one recent case.

Concern over personally contacting Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) has declined from a level of 61% at the beginning of April to just 33% this week. Canadians furthermore express confidence in the abilities of the individuals and agencies directly involved in combating the recent SARS outbreak. Nine in ten Canadians express confidence in the ability of their local doctors and nurses to contain the recent outbreak of SARS, with 53% very confident, while 85% are confident (36% very confident) in the ability of their local public health officials and 83% (31% very confident) in Health Canada to control the SARS outbreak.

The second health threat to hit the headlines during the past couple of weeks is the recent discovery that a cow in Alberta had tested positive for BSE, commonly known as Mad Cow Disease. Half (51%) of Canadians are concerned that Canada will be affected by the disease. When last asked about this topic in February of 2001, 61% of Canadians indicated concern on this question. Eighty-two percent of Canadians say they trust Canada's Food Inspection Agency to protect them from flood-borne illness such as Mad Cow Disease, and 58% say they do not think anyone in Canada will become infected with the human form, CJD, versus 39% in February 2001.

The poll was conducted between May 27th and May 30th, 2003 and is based on a randomly selected sample of 1,001 adult Canadians. Ipsos-Reid is Canada's leading public affairs and marketing research company and publish the Ipsos Trend Report covering public opinion issues. More information can be found online at: www.ipsos-reid.com

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.