Influenza stigma during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic

The current study examined the extent to which H1N1 was stigmatized at the height of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic in the U.S. and explored the role that H1N1 stigma played in people's desire for physical distance from others with H1N1. H1N1 was the most stigmatized disease, with participants endorsing greater prejudice toward people with H1N1 than people with cancer or HIV/AIDS. Further, H1N1 stigma partially mediated the relationship between participants' perceptions that H1N1 was threatening and their desire for physical distance from people with H1N1. Therefore, H1N1 stigma played a role in, but was not entirely responsible for, the relationship between perceptions that H1N1 was threatening and the desire for distance from others with H1N1.