Infodemics: A new challenge for public health

Sylvie C Briand¹, Matteo Cinelli², Tim Nguyen³, Rosamund Lewis⁴, Dimitri Prybylski⁵, Carlo M Valensise⁶, Vittoria Colizza⁷, Alberto Eugenio Tozzi⁸, Nicola Perra⁹, Andrea Baronchelli¹⁰, Michele Tizzoni¹¹, Fabiana Zollo², Antonio Scala¹², Tina Purnat³, Christine Czerniak¹, Adam J Kucharski¹³, Akhona Tshangela¹⁴, Lei Zhou¹⁵, Walter Quattrociocchi¹⁶

Affiliations

¹ Global Infectious Hazards Preparedness Department, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
² Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, 30172 Venice, Italy.
³ Impact Events Preparedness Unit, Global Infectious Hazards Preparedness Department, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
⁴ Infodemic Management Group. Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
⁵ Global Immunization Division, Center for Global Health, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30030, USA.
⁶ Enrico Fermi Research Center, Piazza del Viminale, 1 - 00184, Roma, Italy.
⁷ INSERM, Sorbonne Université, Institut Pierre Louis d'Epidémiologie et de Santé Publique, IPLESP, Paris, France.
⁸ Multifactorial and Complex Diseases research Area, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Rome, Italy.
⁹ Networks and Urban Systems Centre, University of Greenwich, London, UK.
¹⁰ Department of Mathematics, City University of London & The Alan Turing Institute, London, UK.
¹¹ ISI Foundation, 10126, Turin, Italy.
¹² Applico Lab, CNR-ISC, Roma, Italy; Big Data in Health Society, Roma, Italy.
¹³ Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
¹⁴ Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, African Union Headquarters, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
¹⁵ Public Health Emergency Center, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
¹⁶ Department of Computer Science, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy. Electronic address: walter.quattrociocchi@uniroma1.it.

PMID: 34890548
PMCID: PMC8656270
DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.10.031

Infodemics: A new challenge for public health

Sylvie C Briand et al. Cell. 2021.

. 2021 Dec 9;184(25):6010-6014.

doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.10.031.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Global Infectious Hazards Preparedness Department, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
² Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, 30172 Venice, Italy.
³ Impact Events Preparedness Unit, Global Infectious Hazards Preparedness Department, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
⁴ Infodemic Management Group. Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
⁵ Global Immunization Division, Center for Global Health, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30030, USA.
⁶ Enrico Fermi Research Center, Piazza del Viminale, 1 - 00184, Roma, Italy.
⁷ INSERM, Sorbonne Université, Institut Pierre Louis d'Epidémiologie et de Santé Publique, IPLESP, Paris, France.
⁸ Multifactorial and Complex Diseases research Area, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Rome, Italy.
⁹ Networks and Urban Systems Centre, University of Greenwich, London, UK.
¹⁰ Department of Mathematics, City University of London & The Alan Turing Institute, London, UK.
¹¹ ISI Foundation, 10126, Turin, Italy.
¹² Applico Lab, CNR-ISC, Roma, Italy; Big Data in Health Society, Roma, Italy.
¹³ Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
¹⁴ Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, African Union Headquarters, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
¹⁵ Public Health Emergency Center, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
¹⁶ Department of Computer Science, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy. Electronic address: walter.quattrociocchi@uniroma1.it.

PMID: 34890548
PMCID: PMC8656270
DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.10.031

Abstract

The COVID-19 information epidemic, or "infodemic," demonstrates how unlimited access to information may confuse and influence behaviors during a health emergency. However, the study of infodemics is relatively new, and little is known about their relationship with epidemics management. Here, we discuss unresolved issues and propose research directions to enhance preparedness for future health crises.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Interests The authors declare no competing interests.

References

1. Cinelli M., Quattrociocchi W., Galeazzi A., Valensise C.M., Brugnoli E., Schmidt A.L., Zola P., Zollo F., Scala A. The COVID-19 social media infodemic. Sci. Rep. 2020;10:16598. - PMC - PubMed
1. Cinelli M., De Francisci Morales G., Galeazzi A., Quattrociocchi W., Starnini M. The echo chamber effect on social media. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 2021;118 e2023301118. - PMC - PubMed
1. Del Vicario M., Bessi A., Zollo F., Petroni F., Scala A., Caldarelli G., Stanley H.E., Quattrociocchi W. The spreading of misinformation online. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 2016;113:554–559. - PMC - PubMed
1. Di Domenico L., Pullano G., Sabbatini C.E., Boëlle P.-Y., Colizza V. Impact of lockdown on COVID-19 epidemic in Île-de-France and possible exit strategies. BMC Med. 2020;18:240. - PMC - PubMed
1. Ferrara E., Varol O., Davis C., Menczer F., Flammini A. The rise of social bots. Commun. ACM. 2016;59:96–104.

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Infodemics: A new challenge for public health

Affiliations

Infodemics: A new challenge for public health

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Medical