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Arif A, Turaga RMR. Covid-19 cure perceptions and media use in India. JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION IN HEALTHCARE 2023; 16:358-369. [PMID: 37358535 DOI: 10.1080/17538068.2023.2228041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/27/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND During the early phases of Covid-19, social media platforms became a significant source of misinformation, and India emerged as a global hotspot. Studies show that 'miracle cure' for preventing and treating Covid-19 infection has been a prominent topic of misinformation. This study explores the extent to which beliefs in cure for Covid-19 in three prominent medical traditions popular in India are associated with the exposure to and trust in various sources from which the public access information. METHODS We conducted an online structured questionnaire survey of 500 respondents in August 2020 in four major cities of India. RESULTS Despite the scientific consensus at that time that there was no cure for Covid-19, close to three-quarters of our respondents believe that there was a cure in at least one of the three popular medical traditions in India: Allopathy, Homeopathy, and Ayurveda. We find that exposure to and trust in WhatsApp are associated with false beliefs regarding the existence of a cure for Covid-19 (p = 0.001 and p = 0.014, respectively). While trust in science is associated with correct beliefs (p = 0.025), there is evidence that trust in government information may foster incorrect beliefs (p = 0.031). CONCLUSIONS The high trust in scientific research and its potential ability to instill correct beliefs could be exploited to combat Covid-19 misinformation in India. Potential interventions such as awareness campaigns to increase digital media literacy, regulating social media platforms, and voluntary content regulation by social media platforms - might help policymakers tackle Covid-19 related misinformation effectively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Areiba Arif
- Public Systems Group, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
| | - Rama Mohana R Turaga
- Public Systems Group, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
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2
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Ahen F, Buabeng KO, Salo-Ahen OMH. Market violence through destructive entrepreneurship: Assessing institutional responses to the proliferation of counterfeit traditional and alternative medicines in Ghana. Heliyon 2023; 9:e13881. [PMID: 36895339 PMCID: PMC9988503 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e13881] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2023] [Revised: 02/15/2023] [Accepted: 02/16/2023] [Indexed: 02/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Purpose This multidisciplinary study seeks to determine the nature and structure of the informal markets for counterfeit medicines, the co-factors underpinning the demand and supply of counterfeit Western allopathic medicines (WAM), traditional and alternative medicines (TAM), and potential institutional responses in Ghana. Method This study is based on an interpretive research approach. It deploys a synthesis of a longitudinal ethnographic fieldwork, with multiple repeated visits for observations, analysis of documents, interviews, and focus group discussions. Findings The study identifies five major inter-related discoveries that point to the need for urgent institutional responses: Approaches to global health governance pay little attention to the complex economic gamut of TAM, including herbal medicines. The rise in necessity entrepreneurship and the availability of easy-to-use packaging and advertising technologies have made TAM a major competitor of WAM. The informal markets for WAM and TAM are structured in ways that allow them to evade formalized interventions and regulations. Standardization allows destructive entrepreneurs to derive advantage from economies of scale and reduce production costs, allowing the sector to flourish with little economic risk while inflicting violence on consumers. Personalization and co-creation of medicine with consumers has the added psychological effect of increasing consumer confidence. This, however, enlists consumers in the market violence against themselves. Social implications Destructive entrepreneurship, whether inadvertent or criminal creates benefits for groups and individuals but negatively affects public health on various levels. Originality Mitigation and interventions that ignore the informal TAM market of destructive entrepreneurship only answer a part of the big question of how to guarantee patient/consumer safety from the threats of all counterfeits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederick Ahen
- Turku School of Economics, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | - Kwame O Buabeng
- Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Pharmacy Practice, College of Health Sciences, Kumasi, Ghana
| | - Outi M H Salo-Ahen
- Åbo Akademi University, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Pharmaceutical Sciences Laboratory (Pharmacy) and Structural Bioinformatics Laboratory (Biochemistry), Turku, Finland
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Sarker A, Lakamana S, Liao R, Abbas A, Yang YC, Al-Garadi M. Early detection of fraudulent COVID-19 products from Twitter chatter: a dataset and a baseline approach using anomaly detection (Preprint). JMIR INFODEMIOLOGY 2022; 3:e43694. [PMID: 37113382 PMCID: PMC10131818 DOI: 10.2196/43694] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2022] [Revised: 01/31/2023] [Accepted: 02/25/2023] [Indexed: 02/27/2023]
Abstract
Background Social media has served as a lucrative platform for spreading misinformation and for promoting fraudulent products for the treatment, testing, and prevention of COVID-19. This has resulted in the issuance of many warning letters by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). While social media continues to serve as the primary platform for the promotion of such fraudulent products, it also presents the opportunity to identify these products early by using effective social media mining methods. Objective Our objectives were to (1) create a data set of fraudulent COVID-19 products that can be used for future research and (2) propose a method using data from Twitter for automatically detecting heavily promoted COVID-19 products early. Methods We created a data set from FDA-issued warnings during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. We used natural language processing and time-series anomaly detection methods for automatically detecting fraudulent COVID-19 products early from Twitter. Our approach is based on the intuition that increases in the popularity of fraudulent products lead to corresponding anomalous increases in the volume of chatter regarding them. We compared the anomaly signal generation date for each product with the corresponding FDA letter issuance date. We also performed a brief manual analysis of chatter associated with 2 products to characterize their contents. Results FDA warning issue dates ranged from March 6, 2020, to June 22, 2021, and 44 key phrases representing fraudulent products were included. From 577,872,350 posts made between February 19 and December 31, 2020, which are all publicly available, our unsupervised approach detected 34 out of 44 (77.3%) signals about fraudulent products earlier than the FDA letter issuance dates, and an additional 6 (13.6%) within a week following the corresponding FDA letters. Content analysis revealed misinformation, information, political, and conspiracy theories to be prominent topics. Conclusions Our proposed method is simple, effective, easy to deploy, and does not require high-performance computing machinery unlike deep neural network-based methods. The method can be easily extended to other types of signal detection from social media data. The data set may be used for future research and the development of more advanced methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abeed Sarker
- Department of Biomedical Informatics School of Medicine Emory University Atlanta, GA United States
| | - Sahithi Lakamana
- Department of Biomedical Informatics School of Medicine Emory University Atlanta, GA United States
| | - Ruqi Liao
- H Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA United States
| | - Aamir Abbas
- Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA United States
| | - Yuan-Chi Yang
- Department of Biomedical Informatics School of Medicine Emory University Atlanta, GA United States
| | - Mohammed Al-Garadi
- Department of Biomedical Informatics School of Medicine Emory University Atlanta, GA United States
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4
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Verdonk F, Feyaerts D, Badenes R, Bastarache JA, Bouglé A, Ely W, Gaudilliere B, Howard C, Kotfis K, Lautrette A, Le Dorze M, Mankidy BJ, Matthay MA, Morgan CK, Mazeraud A, Patel BV, Pattnaik R, Reuter J, Schultz MJ, Sharshar T, Shrestha GS, Verdonk C, Ware LB, Pirracchio R, Jabaudon M. Upcoming and urgent challenges in critical care research based on COVID-19 pandemic experience. Anaesth Crit Care Pain Med 2022; 41:101121. [PMID: 35781076 PMCID: PMC9245393 DOI: 10.1016/j.accpm.2022.101121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2022] [Revised: 06/03/2022] [Accepted: 06/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
Abstract
While the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic placed a heavy burden on healthcare systems worldwide, it also induced urgent mobilisation of research teams to develop treatments preventing or curing the disease and its consequences. It has, therefore, challenged critical care research to rapidly focus on specific fields while forcing critical care physicians to make difficult ethical decisions. This narrative review aims to summarise critical care research -from organisation to research fields- in this pandemic setting and to highlight opportunities to improve research efficiency in the future, based on what is learned from COVID-19. This pressure on research revealed, i.e., i/ the need to harmonise regulatory processes between countries, allowing simplified organisation of international research networks to improve their efficiency in answering large-scale questions; ii/ the importance of developing translational research from which therapeutic innovations can emerge; iii/ the need for improved triage and predictive scores to rationalise admission to the intensive care unit. In this context, key areas for future critical care research and better pandemic preparedness are artificial intelligence applied to healthcare, characterisation of long-term symptoms, and ethical considerations. Such collaborative research efforts should involve groups from both high and low-to-middle income countries to propose worldwide solutions. As a conclusion, stress tests on healthcare organisations should be viewed as opportunities to design new research frameworks and strategies. Worldwide availability of research networks ready to operate is essential to be prepared for next pandemics. Importantly, researchers and physicians should prioritise realistic and ethical goals for both clinical care and research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Franck Verdonk
- Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, Hôpital Saint-Antoine Paris, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, France and GRC 29, DMU DREAM, Sorbonne University, Paris, France; Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford University, California, United States of America
| | - Dorien Feyaerts
- Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford University, California, United States of America
| | - Rafael Badenes
- Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, Hospital Clìnico Universitario de Valencia, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
| | - Julie A Bastarache
- Division of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States of America
| | - Adrien Bouglé
- Sorbonne Université, GRC 29, AP-HP, DMU DREAM, Department of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Institute of Cardiology, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France
| | - Wesley Ely
- Critical Illness, Brain Dysfunction, and Survivorship (CIBS) Center, at the TN Valley VA Geriatric Research Education Clinical Center (GRECC) and Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States of America
| | - Brice Gaudilliere
- Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford University, California, United States of America
| | - Christopher Howard
- Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, United States of America
| | - Katarzyna Kotfis
- Department Anaesthesiology, Intensive Therapy and Acute Intoxications, Pomeranian Medical University, Szczecin, Poland
| | - Alexandre Lautrette
- Medical Intensive Care Unit, Gabriel-Montpied University Hospital, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - Matthieu Le Dorze
- Department of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, AP-HP, Lariboisière University Hospital, Paris, France
| | - Babith Joseph Mankidy
- Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, United States of America
| | - Michael A Matthay
- Departments of Medicine and Anaesthesia, University of California, and Cardiovascular Research Institute, San Francisco, California, United States of America
| | - Christopher K Morgan
- Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, United States of America
| | - Aurélien Mazeraud
- Service d'Anesthésie-Réanimation, Groupe Hospitalier Université Paris Psychiatrie et Neurosciences, Pôle Neuro, Paris, France
| | - Brijesh V Patel
- Division of Anaesthetics, Pain Medicine, and Intensive Care, Department of Surgery and Cancer, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College, and Department of Adult Intensive Care, Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospitals, Guys & St Thomas' NHS Foundation trust, London, UK
| | - Rajyabardhan Pattnaik
- Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Ispat General Hospital, Rourkela, Sundargarh, Odisha, India
| | - Jean Reuter
- Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg, Luxembourg
| | - Marcus J Schultz
- Department of Intensive Care, Amsterdam UMC, location AMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Tarek Sharshar
- Service d'Anesthésie-Réanimation, Groupe Hospitalier Université Paris Psychiatrie et Neurosciences, Pôle Neuro, Paris, France
| | - Gentle S Shrestha
- Department of Anaesthesiology, Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Maharajgunj, Kathmandu, Nepal
| | - Charles Verdonk
- Unit of Neurophysiology of Stress, Department of Neurosciences and Cognitive Sciences, French Armed Forces Biomedical Research Institute, Brétigny-sur-Orge, France
| | - Lorraine B Ware
- Division of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States of America
| | - Romain Pirracchio
- Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Medicine, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, University of California San Francisco, California, United States of America
| | - Matthieu Jabaudon
- Department of Perioperative Medicine, CHU Clermont-Ferrand, Clermont-Ferrand, France; iGReD, Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS, INSERM, Clermont-Ferrand, France.
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5
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Malik JA, Musharraf S, Safdar R, Iqbal M. Myths and misconception of COVID-19 among hospital sanitary workers in Pakistan: Efficacy of a training program intervention. BMC Health Serv Res 2022; 22:818. [PMID: 35739503 PMCID: PMC9225879 DOI: 10.1186/s12913-022-08217-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2021] [Accepted: 06/06/2022] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Objective Hospital sanitary workers are among the prime source to disseminate information at a massive level, however they received least attention during the pandemic COVID-19. The study was designed to investigate the prevailing myths and misconceptions of the coronavirus pandemic among the sanitary workers of health care system. Further, a systematic training program is devised and tested to demystify the false myths with discerning truth and awareness-raising in hospital sanitary workers. Method A pre-post face-to-face intervention design was opted and the intervention was conducted at five locations by the project team. The intervention consisted a 3 days training program to target myths and misconceptions of hospital sanitary workers. The study was completed in 8 months starting from August, 2019 to March, 2020. Participants were recruited from local hospitals having a specialized indoor COVID treatment facility. The sample consisted of 82 participants (n = 25, 30.09% females) with age ranging from 18 to 60 years (M ± SD = 37.41 ± 10.09). Findings The results indicated that 86.4% of the participants never heard the name of the coronavirus before the pandemic in Pakistan. A majority of the participants (> 50%) believed on a very alarming but unrealistic rate of mortality i.e., 30–60%. The pre-testing showed a high prevalence of myths in all four domains (i.e., popular treatments = 24.44, conspiracy myths = 7.93, home remedies = 16.46, and COVID-reliance = 7.82). The pre and post comparison of individual myths showed significant improvement on 24 of the 26 myths with a decline ranging from 0.18 to 1.63. Overall, the intervention significantly decreased scores on all four domains of coronavirus myths. Conclusion The training intervention appeared to effectively reduce myths and misconceptions of sanitary staff workers and is advised to be included as a standard training program for sanitary workers of health care system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jamil Ahmad Malik
- National Institute of Psychology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, 45320, Pakistan
| | - Sadia Musharraf
- Department of Applied Psychology, Women University, Multan, Multan, Punjab, Pakistan
| | - Razia Safdar
- Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations & Coordination, Islamabad, Pakistan
| | - Mazhar Iqbal
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Islamabad, 45320, Pakistan.
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Kong Y, Shaver LG, Shi F, Yang L, Zhang W, Wei X, Zhu Y, Wang Y, Wang PP. Attitudes of Chinese immigrants in Canada towards the use of Traditional Chinese Medicine for prevention and management of COVID-19: a cross-sectional survey during the early stages of the pandemic. BMJ Open 2021; 11:e051499. [PMID: 34521675 PMCID: PMC8441218 DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-051499] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
OBJECTION The objective of this study was to assess attitudes towards the use of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for COVID-19 among Chinese immigrants in Canada during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted in April 2020 in Canada. Individuals aged 16 or older who were of Chinese origin and living in Canada at the time of the survey were invited to participate in an online survey. Descriptive and univariate statistics were performed to describe participant attitudes towards various preventive and treatment measures for COVID-19. Multiple logistic regression was used to identify independent associations with sociodemographic factors and attitudes. RESULTS A total of 754 eligible respondents were included in the analysis. 65.8% of the participants were female, 77.2% had a university degree or higher and 28.6% were 55 years of age or older. Overall, 48.8% of the study participants believed that TCM was effective in preventing COVID-19% and 46.2% would use TCM if they had COVID-19-related symptoms. However, the corresponding numbers for western medicine were 20.8% and 39.9%, which were statistically lower (p<0.01). Older participants (55+vs <35, OR=3.55 (95% CI 2.05 to 6.14); 35-54 vs <35, OR=1.98 (95% CI 1.27 to 3.08)) and those who were dissatisfied with their income (OR=2.47(95% CI 1.56 to 3.92)) were more likely to believe TCM was effective against COVID-19. Similarly, older participants (55+vs <35, OR=3.13 (95% CI 1.79 to 5.46); 35-54 vs <35, OR=2.25 (95% CI 1.35 to 3.74)), females (OR=1.60 (95% CI 1.15 to 2.23)), and those born in mainland China (OR=10.49 (95% CI 2.32 to 47.39)) were more likely to use TCM if they had symptoms of COVID-19. CONCLUSION Despite the lack of scientific evidence to support its use, TCM was widely believed by Chinese immigrants in Canada to be an effective means of preventing COVID-19 and many also stated they would use it if they were experiencing symptoms of COVID-19.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yujia Kong
- School of Public Health, Weifang Medical University, Weifang, Shandong, China
- Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
| | - Lance Garrett Shaver
- Faculty of Medicine, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Fuyan Shi
- School of Public Health, Weifang Medical University, Weifang, Shandong, China
- Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
| | - Lixia Yang
- Department of Psychology, Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Weiguo Zhang
- Department of Sociology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Xiaolin Wei
- Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Yun Zhu
- School of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University, Wuqing District, Tianjin, China
- Centre for New Immigrant Well-Being, Markham, Ontario, Canada
| | - Yiran Wang
- Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Centre for New Immigrant Well-Being, Markham, Ontario, Canada
| | - Peizhong Peter Wang
- Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
- Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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7
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Kayode AJ, Banji-Onisile FO, Olaniran AO, Okoh AI. An Overview of the Pathogenesis, Transmission, Diagnosis, and Management of Endemic Human Coronaviruses: A Reflection on the Past and Present Episodes and Possible Future Outbreaks. Pathogens 2021; 10:1108. [PMID: 34578140 PMCID: PMC8470645 DOI: 10.3390/pathogens10091108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2021] [Revised: 06/22/2021] [Accepted: 06/29/2021] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
The outbreak of the 2019 coronavirus pandemic caught the world by surprise in late 2019 and has held it hostage for months with an increasing number of infections and deaths. Although coronavirus was first discovered in the 1960s and was known to cause respiratory infection in humans, no information was available about the epidemic pattern of the virus until the past two decades. This review addresses the pathogenesis, transmission dynamics, diagnosis, management strategies, the pattern of the past and present events, and the possibility of future outbreaks of the endemic human coronaviruses. Several studies have described bats as presumptive natural reservoirs of coronaviruses. In essence, the identification of a diverse group of similar SARS coronaviruses in bats suggests the possibility of a future epidemic due to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-like) coronaviruses originating from different reservoir hosts. The study also identified a lack of vaccines to prevent human coronavirus infections in humans in the past, however, the recent breakthrough in vaccine discovery and approval for emergency use for the treatment of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 is commendable. The high rates of genomic substitution and recombination due to errors in RNA replication and the potential for independent species crossing suggest the chances of an entirely new strain evolving. Therefore, rapid research efforts should be deployed for vaccination to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and prevent a possible future outbreak. More sensitization and enlightenment on the need to adopt good personal hygiene practices, social distancing, and scientific evaluation of existing medications with promising antiviral effects against SARS-CoV-2 is required. In addition, intensive investigations to unravel and validate the possible reservoirs, the intermediate host, as well as insight into the ability of the virus to break the species barrier are needed to prevent future viral spillover and possible outbreaks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adeoye J. Kayode
- Applied and Environmental Microbiology Research Group (AEMREG), Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Fort Hare, Private Bag X1314, Alice 5700, South Africa; or
- Wastewater Coronavirus Surveillance Laboratory, SAMRC Microbial Water Quality Monitoring Center, University of Fort Hare, Private Bag X1314, Alice 5700, South Africa
| | - Folasade O. Banji-Onisile
- Department of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4000, South Africa; (F.O.B.-O.); (A.O.O.)
| | - Ademola O. Olaniran
- Department of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4000, South Africa; (F.O.B.-O.); (A.O.O.)
| | - Anthony I. Okoh
- Applied and Environmental Microbiology Research Group (AEMREG), Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Fort Hare, Private Bag X1314, Alice 5700, South Africa; or
- Wastewater Coronavirus Surveillance Laboratory, SAMRC Microbial Water Quality Monitoring Center, University of Fort Hare, Private Bag X1314, Alice 5700, South Africa
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, College Health Sciences, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 555588, United Arab Emirates
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8
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Essar MY, Kazmi SK, Hasan MM, Costa ACDS, Ahmad S. The rampant use of cow dung to treat COVID-19: Is India at the brink of a zoonotic disease outbreak? J Med Virol 2021; 93:6471-6473. [PMID: 34351643 PMCID: PMC8426735 DOI: 10.1002/jmv.27258] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2021] [Revised: 07/02/2021] [Accepted: 08/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Mohammad Mehedi Hasan
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Life Science, Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University, Tangail, Bangladesh.,Division of Infectious Diseases, The Red-Green Research Centre, BICCB, Dhaka, Bangladesh
| | | | - Shoaib Ahmad
- Department of Medicine and General Surgery, Punjab Medical College, Faisalabad, Pakistan
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9
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Gbashi S, Adebo OA, Doorsamy W, Njobeh PB. Systematic Delineation of Media Polarity on COVID-19 Vaccines in Africa: Computational Linguistic Modeling Study. JMIR Med Inform 2021; 9:e22916. [PMID: 33667172 PMCID: PMC7968413 DOI: 10.2196/22916] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2020] [Revised: 10/20/2020] [Accepted: 12/08/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The global onset of COVID-19 has resulted in substantial public health and socioeconomic impacts. An immediate medical breakthrough is needed. However, parallel to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic is the proliferation of information regarding the pandemic, which, if uncontrolled, cannot only mislead the public but also hinder the concerted efforts of relevant stakeholders in mitigating the effect of this pandemic. It is known that media communications can affect public perception and attitude toward medical treatment, vaccination, or subject matter, particularly when the population has limited knowledge on the subject. OBJECTIVE This study attempts to systematically scrutinize media communications (Google News headlines or snippets and Twitter posts) to understand the prevailing sentiments regarding COVID-19 vaccines in Africa. METHODS A total of 637 Twitter posts and 569 Google News headlines or descriptions, retrieved between February 2 and May 5, 2020, were analyzed using three standard computational linguistics models (ie, TextBlob, Valence Aware Dictionary and Sentiment Reasoner, and Word2Vec combined with a bidirectional long short-term memory neural network). RESULTS Our findings revealed that, contrary to general perceptions, Google News headlines or snippets and Twitter posts within the stated period were generally passive or positive toward COVID-19 vaccines in Africa. It was possible to understand these patterns in light of increasingly sustained efforts by various media and health actors in ensuring the availability of factual information about the pandemic. CONCLUSIONS This type of analysis could contribute to understanding predominant polarities and associated potential attitudinal inclinations. Such knowledge could be critical in informing relevant public health and media engagement policies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sefater Gbashi
- Faculty of Science, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | | | - Wesley Doorsamy
- Institute for Intelligent Systems, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
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10
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de Campos-Rudinsky TC, Undurraga E. Public health decisions in the COVID-19 pandemic require more than 'follow the science'. JOURNAL OF MEDICAL ETHICS 2021:medethics-2020-107134. [PMID: 33632729 PMCID: PMC7908053 DOI: 10.1136/medethics-2020-107134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2020] [Revised: 01/27/2021] [Accepted: 02/05/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Although empirical evidence may provide a much desired sense of certainty amidst a pandemic characterised by uncertainty, the vast gamut of available COVID-19 data, including misinformation, has instead increased confusion and distrust in authorities' decisions. One key lesson we have been gradually learning from the COVID-19 pandemic is that the availability of empirical data and scientific evidence alone do not automatically lead to good decisions. Good decision-making in public health policy, this paper argues, does depend on the availability of reliable data and rigorous analyses, but depends above all on sound ethical reasoning that ascribes value and normative judgement to empirical facts.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Eduardo Undurraga
- Government, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Santiago, Chile
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11
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Su Z, McDonnell D, Wen J, Kozak M, Abbas J, Šegalo S, Li X, Ahmad J, Cheshmehzangi A, Cai Y, Yang L, Xiang YT. Mental health consequences of COVID-19 media coverage: the need for effective crisis communication practices. Global Health 2021; 17:4. [PMID: 33402169 PMCID: PMC7784222 DOI: 10.1186/s12992-020-00654-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 182] [Impact Index Per Article: 60.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2020] [Accepted: 12/17/2020] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
During global pandemics, such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), crisis communication is indispensable in dispelling fears, uncertainty, and unifying individuals worldwide in a collective fight against health threats. Inadequate crisis communication can bring dire personal and economic consequences. Mounting research shows that seemingly endless newsfeeds related to COVID-19 infection and death rates could considerably increase the risk of mental health problems. Unfortunately, media reports that include infodemics regarding the influence of COVID-19 on mental health may be a source of the adverse psychological effects on individuals. Owing partially to insufficient crisis communication practices, media and news organizations across the globe have played minimal roles in battling COVID-19 infodemics. Common refrains include raging QAnon conspiracies, a false and misleading "Chinese virus" narrative, and the use of disinfectants to "cure" COVID-19. With the potential to deteriorate mental health, infodemics fueled by a kaleidoscopic range of misinformation can be dangerous. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of research on how to improve crisis communication across media and news organization channels. This paper identifies ways that legacy media reports on COVID-19 and how social media-based infodemics can result in mental health concerns. This paper discusses possible crisis communication solutions that media and news organizations can adopt to mitigate the negative influences of COVID-19 related news on mental health. Emphasizing the need for global media entities to forge a fact-based, person-centered, and collaborative response to COVID-19 reporting, this paper encourages media resources to focus on the core issue of how to slow or stop COVID-19 transmission effectively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhaohui Su
- Center on Smart and Connected Health Technologies, Mays Cancer Center, School of Nursing, UT Health San Antonio, 7703 Floyd Curl Drive, San Antonio, TX 78229 USA
| | - Dean McDonnell
- Department of Humanities, Institute of Technology Carlow, Carlow, Ireland R93 V960
| | - Jun Wen
- School of Business and Law, Edith Cowan University, Perth, WA 6027 Australia
| | - Metin Kozak
- School of Tourism, Dokuz Eylül University, 35680 Foça, İzmir, Turkey
| | - Jaffar Abbas
- Antai College of Economics and Management, and School of Media and Communication, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240 China
| | - Sabina Šegalo
- Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sarajevo, 71000 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
| | - Xiaoshan Li
- Program of Public Relations and Advertising, Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University United International College, Zhuhai, Guangdong China
| | - Junaid Ahmad
- Prime Institute of Public Health, Peshawar Medical College, Warsak Road, Peshawar, 25160 Pakistan
| | - Ali Cheshmehzangi
- Head of Department of Architecture and Built Environment; Professor of Architecture and Urban Design, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Ningbo, Zhejiang, 315100 China
- The Network for Education and Research on Peace and Sustainability (NERPS), Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan
| | - Yuyang Cai
- School of Public Health, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
- China Institute for Urban Governance, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - Ling Yang
- Department of Geriatrics, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200025 China
| | - Yu-Tao Xiang
- Unit of Psychiatry, Institute of Translational Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences; & Center for Cognition and Brain Sciences, University of Macau, Macao SAR, China
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Antiseptic drugs and disinfectants with special scrutiny of COVID-19 pandemic related side effects. SIDE EFFECTS OF DRUGS ANNUAL 2021. [PMCID: PMC8488688 DOI: 10.1016/bs.seda.2021.03.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
This review covers publications during the period of January 2020 to December 2020 on adverse reactions to antiseptic drugs and disinfectants. Specific agents discussed are alcohols (ethanol, isopropanol), aldehydes (formaldehyde), guanidines (chlorhexidine, polyhexamethylene guanidine, and polyhexamethylene biguanidine), benzalkonium compounds, triclocarban, povidone-iodine, and sodium hypochlorite. No new data were identified for glutaraldehyde, cetrimide, ethylene oxide, tosylchloramide, triclosan, iodine, and phenolic compounds. The use of antiseptic drugs and disinfectants has been considerably increased during 2020 in a variety of medical and occupational settings, in commerce and gastronomy, as well as in the household, due to their antiviral properties against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Exposure was additionally increased by widespread misinformation on social media for non-evidence based disinfectant use, even including ingestion or injection, as well as by questionable practices such as environmental spraying or disinfectant gates. Irritant effects on the respiratory system, skin and eyes were the most common adverse reaction, while the widespread and sometimes excessive use led to increased reports of poisonings, as well as cases of disinfectant adulteration including dilution into ineffective concentrations or addition of toxic agents such as methanol.
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Baroutjian A, Sanchez C, Boneva D, McKenney M, Elkbuli A. SARS-CoV-2 pharmacologic therapies and their safety/effectiveness according to level of evidence. Am J Emerg Med 2020; 38:2405-2415. [PMID: 33041111 PMCID: PMC7462621 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajem.2020.08.091] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2020] [Revised: 08/03/2020] [Accepted: 08/26/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION There is a pressing need for COVID-19 transmission control and effective treatments. We aim to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of SARS-CoV-2 pharmacologic therapies as of August 2, 2020 according to study level of evidence. METHODS PubMed, ScienceDirect, Cochrane Library, JAMA Network and PNAS were searched. The following keywords were used: ((COVID-19) OR (SARS-CoV-2)) AND ((((((therapeutics) OR (treatment)) OR (vaccine)) OR (hydroxychloroquine)) OR (antiviral)) OR (prognosis)). Results included peer-reviewed studies published in English. RESULTS 15 peer-reviewed articles met study inclusion criteria, of which 14 were RCTs and one was a systematic review with meta-analysis. The following pharmacologic therapies were evaluated: chloroquine (CQ), hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), antivirals therapies, plasma therapy, anti-inflammatories, and a vaccine. CONCLUSION According to level 1 evidence reviewed here, the most effective SARS-Co-V-2 pharmacologic treatments include remdesivir for mild to severe disease, and a triple regimen therapy consisting of lopinavir-ritonavir, ribavirin and interferon beta-1b for mild to moderate disease. Also, dexamethasone significantly reduced mortality in those requiring respiratory support. However, there is still a great need for detailed level 1 evidence on pharmacologic therapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda Baroutjian
- Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, Kendall Regional Medical Center, Miami, FL, USA
| | - Carol Sanchez
- Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, Kendall Regional Medical Center, Miami, FL, USA
| | - Dessy Boneva
- Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, Kendall Regional Medical Center, Miami, FL, USA,Department of Surgery, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
| | - Mark McKenney
- Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, Kendall Regional Medical Center, Miami, FL, USA
| | - Adel Elkbuli
- Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, Kendall Regional Medical Center, Miami, FL, USA.
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Rapid in vitro assays for screening neutralizing antibodies and antivirals against SARS-CoV-2. J Virol Methods 2020; 287:113995. [PMID: 33068703 PMCID: PMC7554492 DOI: 10.1016/j.jviromet.2020.113995] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2020] [Revised: 10/07/2020] [Accepted: 10/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
We have developed a rapid, accurate, and highly reproducible plaque reduction microneutralization (PRMNT) assay for SARS-CoV-2. Our PRMNT assay allows to identify and characterize antibodies with neutralizing activity against SARS-CoV-2. Likewise, our PRMNT assay can be used to find compounds with antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2. The PRMNT assay can be developed using peroxidase or infrared staining readouts. Our PRMNT assay can be adapted to HTS settings to interrogate complex library of SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors.
Towards the end of 2019, a novel coronavirus (CoV) named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), genetically similar to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), emerged in Wuhan, Hubei province of China, and has been responsible for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in humans. Since its first report, SARS-CoV-2 has resulted in a global pandemic, with over 10 million human infections and over 560,000 deaths reported worldwide at the end of June 2020. Currently, there are no United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved vaccines and/or antivirals licensed against SARS-CoV-2. The high economical and health impacts of SARS-CoV-2 has placed global pressure on the scientific community to identify effective prophylactic and therapeutic treatments for SARS-CoV-2 infection and associated COVID-19 disease. While some compounds have been already reported to reduce SARS-CoV-2 infection and a handful of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have been described that neutralize SARS-CoV-2, there is an urgent need for the development and standardization of assays which can be used in high through-put screening (HTS) settings to identify new antivirals and/or neutralizing mAbs against SARS-CoV-2. Here, we described a rapid, accurate, and highly reproducible plaque reduction microneutralization (PRMNT) assay that can be quickly adapted for the identification and characterization of both neutralizing mAbs and antivirals against SARS-CoV-2. Importantly, our MNA is compatible with HTS settings to interrogate large and/or complex libraries of mAbs and/or antivirals to identify those with neutralizing and/or antiviral activity, respectively, against SARS-CoV-2.
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