infodemia
218917247
Infodemia, Fake News and Medicine: Science and The Quest for Truth
Besides fighting against the COVID 19 pandemic, there is another critical problem that Medicine and Science need to face in this crucial moment: the spread of inaccurate information online. By the end of March 2020, more than 2100 Iranians were poisoned by the oral ingestion of methanol. Iran, as an Islamic country, has severe restrictions on alcohol, but in this case, patients told that social media messages suggested they could prevent being infected by SARS CoV 2 drinking alcohol. Almost 900 illicit alcohol poisoned patients were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and 296 died (fatality rate of 13.5%.1 In the past, news was produced and distributed by a few organizations or private companies, but today, in the Internet and social media age, anyone can broadcast news online. Fake news is better defined as deliberate false information spread via social or conventional media.2 Fake medical news can mislead in order to damage an organization and/ or a person. Another problematic consequence of a fake medical report is to make profits with some specific food, supplement or treatment. WHO Direc tor Genera l Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recently said: "We are not just fighting an epidemic; we are fighting an infodemic" Knowing that stressful times like pandemic are associated with an overload of information and misinformation, immediately after COVID 19 was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, a platform to share tailored information with specific target groups was launched WHO Information Network for Epidemics (EPI WIN).3 The infodemic, the global epidemic of misinformation, can have severe consequences to healthcare and for the society. Content created on the web has the potential to provide the right information and to change people's behavior positively. Still, it is also capable of generating opinions and social behaviors that may put health in danger.4 The first and most consequential misinformation in public health is the misconception that the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine causes autism created by a fraudulent article published in Lancet.5 This misinformation was widely disseminated on social media and, combined with conspiracy theories and other beliefs strength an anti vaccination movement. As a consequence, in 2020, many countries, including the United Kingdom, Greece, Venezuela, and Brazil, have lost their measles elimination status.6,7 In cardiology, there are examples of fake news too. Social media disseminated much misinformation about the potential oncogenic effect of antihypertensive drugs driving many patients to stop using some proved beneficial medication. Battistoni et al. demonstrated that there is any support to promote or encourage the banning of antihypertensive drugs because of a possible risk of neoplasms.8 O'Connor makes a strong argument calling cardiologists to firmly oppose exaggerated therapies, untested entities, unproven vaccines, and nutraceuticals taking the example of heart failure fake news.9 Widening the quote of Jonathan Smith, fake news diffuses significantly farther, more quickly, deeper, and 203
Claudio Tinoco Mesquita Anderson Oliveira Flavio Luiz Seixas A Paes
225679870
Comportamiento informacional, infodemia y desinformacion durante la pandemia de COVID 19
Introduccion. La segunda decada del siglo xxi ha estado marcada por acuciantes cambios en la produccion, diseminacion y comunicacion de la informacion. Se han generado nuevas formas de creacion y diseminacion del conocimiento, basadas en un fortalecimiento del trabajo en red, el uso de las tecnologias, la globalizacion y el desarrollo de sistemas de comunicacion masivos, con el consiguiente crecimiento exponencial de la informacion. Objetivo. Abordar la problematica de la desinformacion a partir del analisis de situaciones informacionales que se sucedieron durante la pandemia de la COVID 19, asi como aportar criterios con respecto a las nociones de misinformation y disinformation, partiendo de la definicion de infodemia utilizada por la Organizacion Panamericana de la Salud. Metodos. Se realizo un estudio descriptivo exploratorio, con una investigacion documental para la actualizacion del tema y verificar los flujos de informacion sobre la COVID 19. Resultados y conclusion. La expansion de la pandemia COVID 19 por el mundo demostro cuan expuestas estan las poblaciones a la infodemia que azota a la sociedad moderna. Se evidencia la necesidad de implementar politicas de informacion que insten a las organizaciones e instituciones cientificas, educativas y culturales a trabajar de forma coordinada en estrategias para la formacion de competencias informacionales.
I R Alfonso Sanchez Maria de las Mercedes Fernandez Valdes
225636451
Infodemia global. Desordenes informativos, narrativas fake y fact checking en la crisis de la Covid 19
La Covid 19 no solo ha desencadenado una pandemia que pone en peligro los sistemas sociales, economicos y sanitarios a nivel global, sino tambien una infodemia donde proliferan las informaciones falsas, los bulos y las noticias sesgadas. Desde una perspectiva estadistico descriptiva y utilizando el analisis de contenido, en este estudio se analizan los desordenes informativos, los lenguajes mediaticos y las narrativas que portan la desinformacion generada sobre la Covid 19 a nivel internacional. El objetivo del analisis se centra en determinar las frecuencias de aparicion de estas noticias falsas, conocer el tiempo que tardan en ser verificadas y establecer la relacion entre la expansion del virus y la prevalencia de la desinformacion en los diferentes continentes. Para ello, se analizo una muestra de 582 noticias falsas incluidas en la base de datos sobre el nuevo coronavirus de la International Fact Checking Network (IFCN) Estas informaciones se dividieron en una muestra general compuesta por 511 piezas y una especifica sobre la desinformacion compartida a traves de WhatsApp (n=71) Los resultados confirman parcialmente recientes estudios que afirman que las informaciones falsas que reconfiguran contenidos veridicos tienen mas prevalencia y tardan mas en ser verificadas que los contenidos completamente fabricados. La desinformacion en formas textuales predomina frente a la produccion de imagenes y audios. Los contenidos en video registran tiempos de verificacion muy superiores al resto de producciones. La desinformacion sobre la Covid 19 integra narrativas con un caracter dinamico y cambiante a medida que la pandemia se expande. Asimismo, se detecta un paralelismo entre la evolucion geografica de la pandemia y la expansion de la infodemia, asi como unos patrones desinformativos especificos en WhatsApp, donde se propagan mas audios y un mayor porcentaje de contenido completamente falso, en ocasiones con fines delictivos.
David Garcia-Marin
226470647
Informacion y comunicacion durante los primeros meses de Covid 19. Infodemia, desinformacion y papel de los profesionales de la informacion
espanolLa pandemia de la Covid 19 ha generado desafios en todo el mundo y esta poniendo en peligro la prosperidad de la poblacion. A los desafios sanitarios, economicos, politicos y sociales, se han anadido los relacionados con la gestion y difusion de la informacion, debidos sobre todo a su crecimiento exponencial, su veracidad y difusion. Proporcionar informacion objetiva basada en pruebas contribuye a afrontar estos desafios. Los medios de comunicacion social y las redes sociales estan jugando un papel clave informando a la sociedad de la evolucion de la pandemia y de los avances hacia su erradicacion. Sin embargo, las redes sociales tambien son el vehiculo de transmision de noticias poco objeti vas o falsas que pueden poner en peligro la salud de las personas. Los profesionales de la informacion juegan un papel clave para corregir la desinformacion si son capaces de filtrar la informacion veraz y poner a disposicion de la poblacion recursos de calidad contrastada. Ademas, deben gestionar la informacion cientifica sobre la pandemia que avanza a un ritmo acelerado, con China como lider y Espana en el quinto lugar en el desarrollo de proyectos de investigacion y pu blicaciones cientificas. Las investigaciones hacen hincapie en los aspectos epidemiologicos, enfermedades respiratorias, tratamientos farmacologicos y pruebas diagnosticas. Numerosas revistas, bases de datos, repositorios y otros sistemas de informacion han puesto en abierto sus publicaciones y otros recursos informativos en tiempo record para favorecer el avance de las investigaciones EnglishThe Covid 19 pandemic has introduced challenges throughout the world and is endangering people's prosperity. To these health, economic, political, and social challenges have been added those related to the management and dis semination of information, mainly concerning its exponential growth, veracity, and dissemination. Providing objective evidence based information contributes to meeting these challenges. Social media and social networks are playing a key role in informing society about the evolution of the pandemic and progress towards its eradication. However, social networks are also a vehicle for the transmission of biased or false news that can endanger people's health. Information professionals play a key role in correcting misinformation if they are able to filter out untruthful information and make resources with proven quality available to the population. In addition, they must manage scientific information about the pandemic, which is advancing at an accelerated pace. Currently, China is the leader while Spain is in fifth place in the development of research projects and scientific publications. The scientific research focuses on epidemiological aspects, respiratory diseases, drug treatments, and diagnostic tests. Many journals, databases, repositories, and other informa tion systems have made their publications and other information resources available in record time to encourage the progress of such research.
Rafael Aleixandre Benavent Lourdes Castello Cogollos Juan Carlos Valderrama Zurian
230768248
Informacion y comunicacion durante los primeros meses de Covid 19. Infodemia, desinformacion y papel de los profesionales de la informacion
La pandemia de la Covid 19 ha generado desafios en todo el mundo y esta poniendo en peligro la prosperidad de la poblacion. A los desafios sanitarios, economicos, politicos y sociales, se han anadido los relacionados con la gestion y difusion de la informacion, debidos sobre todo a su crecimiento exponencial, su veracidad y difusion. Proporcionar informacion objetiva basada en pruebas contribuye a afrontar estos desafios. Los medios de comunicacion social y las redes sociales estan jugando un papel clave informando a la sociedad de la evolucion de la pandemia y de los avances hacia su erradicacion. Sin embargo, las redes sociales tambien son el vehiculo de transmision de noticias poco objetivas o falsas que pueden poner en peligro la salud de las personas. Los profesionales de la informacion juegan un papel clave para corregir la desinformacion si son capaces de filtrar la informacion veraz y poner a disposicion de la poblacion recursos de calidad contrastada. Ademas, deben gestionar la informacion cientifica sobre la pandemia que avanza a un ritmo acelerado, con China como lider y Espana en el quinto lugar en el desarrollo de proyectos de investigacion y publicaciones cientificas. Las investigaciones hacen hincapie en los aspectos epidemiologicos, enfermedades respiratorias, tratamientos farmacologicos y pruebas diagnosticas. Numerosas revistas, bases de datos, repositorios y otros sistemas de informacion han puesto en abierto sus publicaciones y otros recursos informativos en tiempo record para favorecer el avance de las investigaciones.
Rafael Aleixandre-Benavent Lourdes Castello-Cogollos Valderrama-Zurian Jc
225937881
Global Challenge of Health Communication: Infodemia in the Coronavirus Disease (COVID 19) Pandemic
Article Type Letter to Editor Authors Allahverdipour H.*1 PhD
Hamid Allahverdipour
222209995
Infodemia and COVID 19: a text mining analysis
Abstract Introduction Covid 19 epidemic lead a huge use of social media to comment and spread information from the widest sources. Infodemia looks at excessive amount of information circulating, which makes it difficult to orientate communities on a given topic due to the difficulty of identifying reliable sources. Using text mining analysis it is possible to identify what drives public conversation and impact of Covid 19. Methods Public perceptions in emergencies is traditionally measured with surveys. However, to have a global sight of the pandemia, Twitter represents a powerful tool which gives real time monitoring of public perception. The study aimed to: 1) monitor the use of the terms "Covid 19" or "Coronarivus" over time; and 2) to conduct a specific text and sentiment analysis. Results Between January 10 and May 8, 2020, over 600 million tweets were retrieved. Of those 600.000 tweets were randomly selected, coded, and analyzed. About 10% of cases were identified as misinformation. Public figures, experts in public health, and virologists represent the most popular sources in comparison to the official government and health agencies. There is a positive correlation between Twitter activity peaks and COVID 19 infection peaks. Text mining analysis was carried out, as well as a content analysis, also in order to identify changing emotions and sentiments during time. This analysis, particularly during the lockdown, clearly shows that participation on social media can potentially have an effect on building social capital and social support. Conclusions This study confirms that using social media to conduct infodemic studies is an important area of development in public health arena. COVID 19 tweets were primarily used to disseminate information from credible sources, but were also a source of opinions, emotion and experiences. Tweets can be used for real time content analysis and knowledge translation research, allowing health authorities to respond to public concerns. Key messages Social media is crucial for health information. Infodemia as new way for study health.
The European Journal of Public Health
Walter De Caro
226574091
Desafios das Fake News com Idosos durante Infodemia sobre Covid 19: Experiencia de Estudantes de Medicina
Resumo: Introducao: A pandemia do novo coronavirus trouxe consigo uma infodemia, ou seja, um excesso de informacoes, que, em populacoes com baixa analise critica e falta de conhecimento tecnico cientifico, pode gerar e disseminar fake news. No Brasil, esses deficits sao encontrados frequentemente nos idosos, que representam 13% da populacao, e na maior parte dos analfabetos absolutos e funcionais, o que os torna tanto vitimas quanto propagadores. Relato de Experiencia: Foi realizada uma atividade multicentrica baseada no projeto piloto da Faculdade Evangelica Mackenzie do Parana que promoveu educacao em saude para a populacao idosa por meio de redes sociais e comunicacao on line. Assim, os estudantes de Medicina ficaram disponiveis para esclarecer duvidas e mitos relacionados a Covid 19 e enviar materiais informativos. Doze instituicoes de ensino superior da Regiao Sul do Brasil replicaram o projeto de 4 de julho a 6 de agosto de 2020, com o objetivo de combater as fake news e estimular a criacao de canais de comunicacao confiaveis com essa populacao. Discussao: A inclusao digital do idoso e algo recente, e a proporcao daqueles que sao usuarios da internet vem crescendo no pais. Entretanto, ainda ha baixa interpretacao critica de informacoes, dificuldade de acompanhar o fluxo de noticias e pouca habilidade com ferramentas da internet. Nesse sentido, dar protagonismo a essa populacao digitalmente invisibilizada e permitir a ampliacao do conhecimento medico geriatrico durante a pandemia, por meio do contato de academicos com as demandas dos idosos, e uma forma efetiva de possibilitar um entendimento maior acerca das vulnerabilidades e necessidades do publico geriatrico no que tange a educacao em saude. Conclusao: A construcao do canal de comunicacao entre academicos e idosos apresentou uma possibilidade inovadora para a populacao idosa obter informacao cientifica de forma acessivel, de modo a conscientiza la do novo coronavirus e da propagacao de noticias falsas.
Angela Theresa Zuffo Yabrude Andressa Caroline Ferreira de Souza Catarine Wiggers de Campos Loyse Bohn Marcela Tiboni
225292189
Infodemia em tempos de pandemia: batalhas invisiveis com baixas imensuraveis
Este artigo trata do fenomeno mundial da desinformacao que inspirou a expressao "infodemia" durante a pandemia mundial de COVID 19; enquanto um contamina o corpo, o outro contamina as ideias. A ascensao da internet e a popularizacao das plataformas de midia social mudaram o ecossistema da informacao. O acesso direto a um volume exponencial de conteudo torna dificil distinguir informacoes precisas de conteudos de baixa qualidade, falsos, editoriais e satiras. Analisamos a aderencia a desinformacao levando em conta a Teoria da Relevancia (SPERBER e WILSON, 1986/1995) Vigilancia Epistemica (SPERBER et al. 2010) estudos sobre Racionalidade (MERCIER, 2020) conceitos de Base Comum (CLARK, 1996, 1998) estudos em economia e psicologia comportamental de Tversky (1973) e Kahneman (2002/2011) bem como estudos sobre desinformacao de McIntyre (2018) Rand (2020) e Wardle (2018, 2019)
Angelica Andersen Elena Godoy
229177718
Infodemia: Another Enemy for Romanian Frontline Healthcare Workers to Fight during the COVID 19 Outbreak
Background and Objectives: The population has been overwhelmed with false information related to the Coronavirus disease (COVID 19) crisis, spreading rapidly through social media and other channels. We aimed to investigate if frontline healthcare workers affected by infodemia show different psychological consequences than frontline clinicians who do not declare to be affected by false news related to the COVID 19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: One hundred twenty six frontline healthcare workers from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and Emergency Departments in Romania completed a survey to assess stress, depression, anxiety, and sleep disorders, between March and April 2020. We split the sample of frontline healthcare workers into two groups based on the self evaluated criteria: if they were or were not affected by infodemia in their activity. Results: Considering limitations such as the cross sectional design, the lack of causality relationship, and the sample size, the results show that, the frontline medical workers who declared to be affected by false news were significantly more stressed, felt more anxiety, and suffered more from insomnia than healthcare workers who are not affected by false information related to pandemic time. Conclusions: The infodemia has significant psychological consequences such as stress, anxiety, and insomnia on already overwhelmed doctors and nurses in the outbreak of the COVID 19 crisis. These findings suggest that medical misinformation's psychological implications must be considered when different interventions regarding frontline healthcare workers during the COVID 19 pandemic are implemented.
Medicina
Ica Secosan Delia Virga Zorin Petrisor Crainiceanu Lavinia Melania Bratu Tiberiu Bratu