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Zika-Virus-Related Photo Sharing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 August 2017

Sora Yasri*
Affiliation:
KMIT Primary Care Center, Bangkok Thailand
Viroj Wiwanitkit
Affiliation:
Visiting Professor, Hainan Medical University, China.
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Sora Yasri, KMT Primary Care Center, Bangkok Thailand (e-mail: sorayasri@outlook.co.th).
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Abstract

Type
Letters to the Editor
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2017 

The publication of “Zika-Virus-Related Photo Sharing on Pinterest and Instagram” is very interesting. Fung et al concluded that “Pinterest and Instagram are similar platforms for Zika virus prevention communication.”Reference Fung, Blankenship and Goff 1 In their study, Fung et al tried to search the photo record on Pinterest (San Francisco, CA) and Instagram (Menlo Park, CA). There can be a bias in judgement of the relationship between the photo and Zika virus infection or prevention. It might be concluded that there are many posts in the network on Zika virus infection. Nevertheless, it might not be concluded that the network photo sharing is for Zika virus prevention communication. It can be useful if there is a control for the correctness of the shared information. If there is no control, however, the sharing might be a way of promoting problems in disease control. If there is no control, the photo might mislead the viewer and result in unwanted health behavior.Reference Tiggemann and Zaccardo 2 Thus, is it necessary to have a system that might help to identify correct photos and ignore incorrect data. There are some possible ways for managing this problem, such as

  • creating a team to monitor the Internet for information during a disease outbreak,

  • having a system to verify and guarantee the reliability of the website,

  • and constructing and promoting a central health information website generated by the governmental public health sector.

References

1. Fung, IC, Blankenship, EB, Goff, ME, et al. Zika-virus-related photo sharing on Pinterest and Instagram [published online March 23, 2017]. Disaster Med Public Health Prep. https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2017.23.Google Scholar
2. Tiggemann, M, Zaccardo, M. ‘Strong is the new skinny’: A content analysis of #fitspiration images on Instagram [published online March 31, 2016]. Health Psychol. 2016;1359105316639436. doi: 10.1177/1359105316639436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar