How to arm yourself against hantavirus misinformation

"Since the first cases of hantavirus on the MV Hondius cruise ship were reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) on May 2, misinformation has rapidly flooded the Internet. Much of it is familiar, echoing the conspiracies of the COVID pandemic, such as false claims about the drug ivermectin being known to effectively treat the infection and vaccines causing the outbreak. Hantavirus-related misinformation is operating not like isolated rumors but more like a standing online ecosystem, says Katrine Wallace, an epidemiologist at the University of Illinois Chicago."

"This kind of thinking is ready to plug and play and rapidly attach itself to any kind of emerging health threat within hours, she says. But not all faulty information online is being spread in bad faith. Though public health officials have said the hantavirus outbreak poses a low risk to the public, fear is its own kind of contagion. We're still recovering from the collective trauma of going through COVID-19."

"People are still carrying that residual fear, exhaustion and distrust, says Monica Wang, a public health researcher at Boston University, who specializes in health misinformation. In an environment where misinformation and fear are amplified by social media algorithms, it is hard to know what to listen to and what to tune out. The key strategy for staying informed is to focus on what we know and not fill in uncertainties with worst-case scenarios."

"The goal is not to dismiss concern but to calibrate concern appropriately based on evidence, Wang says. Recalibrating Risk The Andes type of hantavirus at the center of this outbreak isn't new to scientists, but outbreaks like this one are scarce. The novelty of a rare disease outbreak"

Hantavirus cases reported from the MV Hondius cruise ship led to rapid online misinformation. Claims mirror familiar COVID-era conspiracies, including false statements that ivermectin effectively treats infection and that vaccines caused the outbreak. The misinformation functions as an interconnected online ecosystem that can attach to emerging health threats within hours. Some faulty information is spread without malicious intent, driven by residual fear, exhaustion, and distrust after COVID-19. Public health officials have said the outbreak poses a low risk to the public, but fear can spread like a contagion. Social media algorithms amplify misinformation, making it difficult to decide what to trust. A key strategy is to focus on what is known and avoid filling uncertainties with worst-case scenarios, calibrating concern to evidence.

Read at www.scientificamerican.com