Automated monitoring of tweets for early detection of the 2014 Ebola epidemic

Joshi, Aditya; Sparks, Ross; Karimi, Sarvnaz; Yan, Sheng-Lun Jason; Chughtai, Abrar Ahmad; Paris, Cécile; MacIntyre, C. Raina

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0230322

Cited by 21 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…11 Epidemiological monitoring on online media platforms includes extracting, aggregating, analyzing online textual data in real time, and devising control measures. 12 Although social media data are observational, they can complement traditional surveillance system data. 13 Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, social media users have been playing a role in all stages of knowledge translation, including COVID-19 morbidity and mortality, interventions, spreading rumors and conspiracy theories, and reporting stigma.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19–Related Infodemic and Its Impact on Public Health: A Global Social Media Analysis

Islam

Sarkar

Khan

et al. 2020

The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

Self Cite

818

618

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Infodemics, often including rumors, stigma, and conspiracy theories, have been common during the COVID-19 pandemic. Monitoring social media data has been identified as the best method for tracking rumors in real time and as a possible way to dispel misinformation and reduce stigma. However, the detection, assessment, and response to rumors, stigma, and conspiracy theories in real time are a challenge. Therefore, we followed and examined COVID-19related rumors, stigma, and conspiracy theories circulating on online platforms, including fact-checking agency websites, Facebook, Twitter, and online newspapers, and their impacts on public health. Information was extracted between December 31, 2019 and April 5, 2020, and descriptively analyzed. We performed a content analysis of the news articles to compare and contrast data collected from other sources. We identified 2,311 reports of rumors, stigma, and conspiracy theories in 25 languages from 87 countries. Claims were related to illness, transmission and mortality (24%), control measures (21%), treatment and cure (19%), cause of disease including the origin (15%), violence (1%), and miscellaneous (20%). Of the 2,276 reports for which text ratings were available, 1,856 claims were false (82%). Misinformation fueled by rumors, stigma, and conspiracy theories can have potentially serious implications on the individual and community if prioritized over evidence-based guidelines. Health agencies must track misinformation associated with the COVID-19 in real time, and engage local communities and government stakeholders to debunk misinformation.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19–Related Infodemic and Its Impact on Public Health: A Global Social Media Analysis

Islam

Sarkar

Khan

et al. 2020

The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

Self Cite

818

618

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Recently, social media has been identified as a possible place to conduct rumor surveillance [64][65][66]. People often share concerns, mistrust and rumors about vaccines, outbreaks or public health programs on social media before they are detected through a traditional surveillance system [67].…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Rumor surveillance in support of minimally invasive tissue sampling for diagnosing the cause of child death in low-income countries: A qualitative study

et al. 2021

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In low-and middle-income countries, determining the cause of death of any given individual is impaired by poor access to healthcare systems, resource-poor diagnostic facilities, and limited acceptance of complete diagnostic autopsies. Minimally invasive tissue sampling (MITS), an innovative post-mortem procedure based on obtaining tissue specimens using fine needle biopsies suitable for laboratory analysis, is an acceptable proxy of the complete diagnostic autopsy, and thus could reduce the uncertainty of cause of death. This study describes rumor surveillance activities developed and implemented in Bangladesh, Mali, and Mozambique to identify, track and understand rumors about the MITS procedure. Our surveillance activities included observations and interviews with stakeholders to understand how rumors are developed and spread and to anticipate rumors in the program areas. We also engaged young volunteers, local stakeholders, community leaders, and study staff to report rumors being spread in the community after MITS launch. Through community meetings, we also managed and responded to rumors. When a rumor was reported, the field team purposively conducted interviews and group discussions to track, verify and understand the rumor. From July 2016 through April 2018, the surveillance identified several rumors including suspicions of organs being harvested or transplanted; MITS having been performed on a living child, and concerns related to disrespecting the body and mistrust related to the study purpose. These rumors, concerns, and cues of mistrust were passed by word of mouth. We managed the rumors by modifying the consent protocol and giving additional information and support to the bereaved family and to the community members. Rumor surveillance was critical for anticipating and readily identifying rumors and managing them. Setting up rumor surveillance by engaging community residents, stakeholders, and volunteers could be an essential part of any public health program where there is a need to identify and react in real-time to public concern.

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“…With high mobile phone penetration and android usage, outbreak alerts can be obtained via WhatsApp and other social media sources. This has proven to be useful in previous outbreaks such as the 2014 EVD where it detected alerts three months prior to formal announcements [49].…”

Section: The Need To Engage Community Health Workers In the Fight Agamentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 Outbreak Situation in Nigeria and the Need for Effective Engagement of Community Health Workers for Epidemic Response

Ajisegiri¹,

Odusanya²,

Joshi

2020

Global Biosecurity

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The current Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) outbreak has affected over 200 countries including Nigeria. It is one of the largest respiratory disease outbreaks affecting several countries simultaneously and a novel strain of Coronavirus (SARS-CoV 2) has been identified as the causative agent. Sequel to the advice of the International Health Regulation Emergency Committee, the Director-General of WHO declared the COVID-19 outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on 30 January 2020 and characterized it as a pandemic on 11 March 2020. The aim of the study was to describe the current situation of the outbreak in Nigeria and argued the need for effective engagement of community health workers for an appropriate response to COVID-19. We reviewed published articles on COVID-19 and daily epidemiological reports from the website of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) from 27 February 2020 till 3 May 2020 (Epidemiology week 7-17) to describe the outbreak. We also reviewed ongoing responses by the government and other relevant agencies. Our findings revealed possible evidence of ongoing and increasing community transmission of COVID-19 infections, inadequate testing capacity and overwhelming of health resources. Our review also revealed infection of several health workers in the face of existing critical skilled health workforce shortage. With surging of new COVID-19 cases and a huge number of contacts to be traced, we recommended that the government needs to promptly bring community health workers on board, deploy rapid epidemic intelligence and scale up the use of mobile Apps for contact tracing. This will result in an effective and coordinated response to the ongoing outbreak, sustain routine health services especially at the community level, reduce morbidity and mortality, and preserve health indices gains already made in the health system.

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Automated monitoring of tweets for early detection of the 2014 Ebola epidemic

Cited by 21 publications

References 15 publications

COVID-19–Related Infodemic and Its Impact on Public Health: A Global Social Media Analysis

COVID-19–Related Infodemic and Its Impact on Public Health: A Global Social Media Analysis

Rumor surveillance in support of minimally invasive tissue sampling for diagnosing the cause of child death in low-income countries: A qualitative study

COVID-19 Outbreak Situation in Nigeria and the Need for Effective Engagement of Community Health Workers for Epidemic Response

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