Journal of Infection and Public Health 11 (2018) 444–445

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Journal of Infection and Public Health

j ournal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jiph

Letter to the Editor

Isolationism, populism, and infectious disease: Of particular concern for the future of international public health

Uncertainty over international emergency efforts to combat global infectious disease threats are the tweets

response under the Trump regime made by Trump when two US aid workers, physician Kent Brantly

and nurse Nancy Writebol, contracted Ebola in Liberia [20]. Out-

I am a rock, lined below are three of his most infamous tweets on this issue:

I am an island.

“Ebola patient will be brought to the U.S. in a few days – now I

I’ve built walls,

know for sure that our leaders are incompetent. KEEP THEM OUT

A fortress, steep and mighty,

OF HERE!”

That none may penetrate. [1]

“Stop the EBOLA patients from entering the U.S. Treat them, at

Recent electoral and referendum decisions in both the United

the highest level, over there. THE UNITED STATES HAS ENOUGH

States of America (USA) and the United Kingdom (UK) have brought

PROBLEMS!”

into sharp focus a growing resistance to an international orienta-

tion among an increasing number of states. A dramatic example “The U.S. cannot allow EBOLA infected people back. People that

of this can be seen in the result of the so-called ‘Brexit’ refer- go to far away places to help out are great-but must suffer the

endum decision in the United Kingdom (UK) that will ensure its consequences!” [21]

departure from the European Union. Nationalism and racism were

It was presumably in response to such comments that Samantha

undoubtedly crucial elements fueling the outcome of this populist

Power, former US ambassador to the UN, stated in a recent inter-

vote [2]. A similar example of successful marketing of isolation-

view “I would worry, in the face of an epidemic like Ebola, that

ism and nationalism can be seen in the electoral triumph of Donald

there would be a knee-jerk ‘let’s close our borders, let the people

Trump to the presidency of the United States of America. Trump’s

of West Africa tend to themselves” [22]. The Trump administration

campaign was based on a particularly potent mixture of grassroots

does not appear to understand that disease anywhere is a threat to

xenophobia and nostalgia [3]. Trump’s campaign identified Mexi-

health everywhere.

can immigrants as criminals and rapists and focused on promising

The insular xenophobic nationalism demonstrated by the new

to build a wall (“Build The Wall”) to protect an America that he sug-

US government provides an almost perfect antithesis to fundamen-

gested would once again be a great country (“Make America Great

tal philosophies in Public Health. This approach, combined with the

Again”) [4–6].

Trump regime’s apparent lack of a moral compass [23], its disregard

These incidents are far from being isolated events. In France

for objective reality [24–26], and propensity toward erratic knee-

the far right is gaining significant ground under the leadership of

jerk responses [16–18,21], seriously endangers future international

Marine Le Pen who espouses blatant Islamophobia [7]. Similar racist

cooperative public health efforts.

ideologies are being promulgated in the Netherlands and Denmark

with growing populist electoral success [8,9].

Funding

The impact of this growing racist insularity on international

efforts to control potential infectious disease epidemics may be

No funding sources.

considerable. It should be acknowledged that the US was cru-

cially involved in international efforts to control the recent Ebola

Competing interests

outbreak in West Africa [10–13]. However, Trump’s nationalist

and isolationist agenda will undoubtedly undermine, if not erad-

None declared.

icate, US commitment to future participation in combatting such

outbreaks (“America First”). It must be acknowledged that future

international cooperation involving the US seems to be in jeop- Ethical approval

ardy in a range of arenas. For example, the Trump administration

has consistently attacked international organizations such as the Not required.

United Nations (UN) [14,15].

Trump’s hastily implemented Muslim Ban, which denied access References

to the US to citizens from seven Muslim countries (Syria, Iran,

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jiph.2017.07.011

1876-0341/© 2017 The Author. Published by Elsevier Limited on behalf of King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences. This is an open access article under the

CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Letter to the Editor / Journal of Infection and Public Health 11 (2018) 444–445 445

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