Review of Related Literature

This chapter presents the different related literature and studies; It is also a review of the

existing literature relevant to the topic of the Importance of Quarantine during the spread of an

Infectious Disease. In exploration, we find new techniques and new knowledge, This Chapter

presents a brief review of literature and studies about quarantine and it’s effects in our mental

health.

The World Health Organization established rules for the general population to follow in

order to protect themselves from the infection. These guidelines primarily recommend

maintaining social distance (1 meter from someone coughing or sneezing), proper hand hygiene

and respiratory hygiene (covering the mouth and nose when sneezing and coughing), and

avoiding touching the eye, nose, and mouth. Isolation is widely accepted in the public health

sector as an efficient method of dealing with contagious diseases such as COVID-19, which can

be spread by droplets in the air. A significant increase will cause the health-care system to

become overburdened (as it was seen with Italy recently during the COVID- 19 outbreak). This

is especially important in nations with high population density and limited health-care services,

such as India. The effectiveness of mass-aggressive quarantine procedures is still being

questioned. Lawrence Gostin, director of Georgetown University's World Health Organization

Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law, expressed serious doubts about

China's widespread deployment of quarantine tactics. The implementation of strict quarantine

measures is also proven to have major economic, psychological, and social implications. In

general, quarantine measures are known to produce up to four times the post-traumatic stress in

quarantined individuals compared to non-quarantined individuals. Researchers have linked

extended quarantine periods to negative mental health outcomes such as post-traumatic stress

symptoms, anger, avoidance behaviors, and so on. Longer quarantine periods of more than 10

days resulted in significantly higher post-traumatic stress symptoms when compared to

quarantine periods of less than 10 days. If quarantine is used, it should be justified and

reasonable, with well-thought-out implementation procedures that take scientific evidence and

protocols into consideration. The influence of quarantine and isolation on the general

population's mental health has only been analyzed in a few studies, most of which were

undertaken in China, where the pandemic began. Qiu et al. discovered that 35% of the population

suffered from psychological distress; in particular, women and those aged 18 to 30 years or older

than 60 years were more prone to stress and more likely to develop post-traumatic stress

disorder. Furthermore, respondents were more concerned about their own health and the health

of their family members, while being less interested in leisure activities and social relationships.

Ensuring that people under quarantine understand the severity of the epidemic and receive proper

information from health and government officials about the disease and the reasons for

quarantine should be promoted. In terms of adhering to quarantine procedures, having a sense of

altruism, as well as believing that quarantine is helping to keep others safe and control

epidemics, are helpful to promote adherence and make difficult experiences manageable. To

mitigate mental health issues and prevent long-term consequences, priorities should include

informing the public about the benefits of quarantine for protecting or restoring public health and

controlling epidemics, as well as making every effort to ensure that the burden of quarantine is

bearable for people.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7586567/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-021-01019-y#

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00533/full