Various myths and believes Circulating about the COVID-19
Pandemic:
Since the pandemic many researchers are working on to give details about
the etiology and epidemiology of the coronavirus but along with this
outset many unsubstantiated information and beliefs were circulated in
the society about how it was introduced and how it can be prevented
further. These misconceptions were mainly due to lack of knowledge and
information about the features of the virus. This misinterpretation has
been trending in society and leads to negligence in terms of
health-related practices.
The initial misconception that spread like wildfire was that COVID-19 is
prevented by hot temperatures above 25 degree, in-fact it was agreed
upon by Donald Trump as well, when he stated that this disease may go
away upon exposure to hot climate (Matthews Chris, 2020). The preceding
research denies the given speculation stating that temperature and
humidity would be the least protective factor against COVID-19.
Scientists came up with factual evidence against the myth stating that
the effect of weather in COVID-19 cases is quite minimal and mobility
seems to have more impact on disease spread instead of weather for sure
(Jamshidi et al., 2020). In addition to that, a WHO study also found out
that weather is one of the least affecting parameters, as a fact sun
exposure or living in higher temperatures doesn’t guarantee that you
won’t get infected by COVID-19 (“Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Advice
for the Public: Mythbusters,” 2020).
In the early 2020, it was believed that taking hydroxychloroquine
(anti-malarial drug) can safeguard you from COVID-19 infection and this
myth got support from an article that found out that, chloroquine has
been sporadically used in treating SARS-COV2 infection by controlling
the cytokine storm that occurs in body as a protective mechanism after
being exposed to any pathogen (Yao et al., 2020). Currently, there is no
evidence suggesting this. In a cohort study conducted in the UK by
researchers to see whether hydroxychloroquine use before SARS-CoV-2
infection could prevent mortality from COVID-19. They included 30,569
patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis who
were already taking hydroxychloroquine for 6 months before, but they had
no sort of prophylaxis against COVID-19 and 164 068 patients with these
rheumatic diseases who did not use hydroxychloroquine. They highlighted
that there was no significant association of hydroxychloroquine with
mortality rates in COVID-19 patients (0.23% among hydroxychloroquine
users and 0.22% among non-users) (Jorge, 2021).
It came out as a common belief among mass population derived from social
media and mass communication platforms that under-developing or low
economic countries such as Africa and India will hypothetically to be
affected less than the high income, developed countries such as USA, UK
France, and Italy etc from the COVID-19. As per statistics of
20th April 2020; 92,472 with 10,023 no. Of deaths in
Italy, 1,23,776 cases with around 2229 deaths in the USA versus 987
cases out of which only 25 deaths occurred in India and 29 deaths out of
454 cases in Algeria have surely strengthened this belief (Geldsetzer,
2020).
The above misconception has been proved substantially wrong as various
countries might be at different stages during the pandemic, therefore,
CFR(Case Fatality Rate) is a more significant and reliable index to
judge the prevalence of disease among countries than the no. of total
cases per million population across variety of countries. It was found
that CFR is not affected by income levels of respective countries. So,
the economically poor countries have better immunity is a mere
misconception (Geldsetzer, 2020).
A false belief reported in a Nigerian study stated that consumption of
gins, garlic, herbal mixtures, and African foods/ soups as well as
gargles and drinking hot liquids as preventive measures against COVID 19
pandemic (Yao et al., 2020). However, guzzling down hot liquids is
unlikely to raise the temperature of the body in the respiratory tract
to kill any virus and even if it does, the temperature of hot liquid
needs to be around 132-degree Fahrenheit (Gray Richard, 2020).
A study that included participants from the USA and UK believed that
children were at an especially high risk of death when infected with
SARS-COV-2 and included that it was necessary to stop eating Chinese
restaurant food to stay healthy (Geldsetzer, 2020). WHO and other major
stakeholders from different countries in the world especially in the
African region and Nigeria have not ceased dismissing some of these
misconceptions about COVID pandemic among people as false and
misleading.
Few of the reports mentioned that many people believed that drinking
alcohol protects against being infected with the COVID-19 virus.
However, it was published by a WHO report that drinking alcohol doesn’t
protect you against COVID-19 and can have various consequences
(Alcohol and COVID-19: What You Need to Know , 2020).
Mosquitoes might be potential carriers or vectors of SARS-CoV-2, more so
with the impending summer season approaching the mosquito breeding rate
will be high. Tettnang Virus – a coronavirus has successfully been
isolated from Aedes cantans mosquito in Czechoslovakia. Additionally,
efficient replication of human enteric virus has been observed in Aedes
albopictus C6/36 cell line. It is useful as various gut associated
problems were observed in COVID-19 patients. To detect whether field
mosquitoes contain SARS-COV-2, a total of 1165 Culex and Anopheles
mosquitoes were collected from Wuhan during Prl/ may in 2020.
qRT -PCR detection assay for SARS COV-2 determined that all tested pools
of mosquitoes were negative for the virus (Xia et al., 2020).
There have been a lot of rumors circulating around the world about
COVID-19 vaccines. The myths that we hear a lot about how it can cause
women infertility, substitute genetic material and various impacts on
human health and behavior. Some rare cases of bell palsy and other
neurologic disease along with fatal blood disorder have been reported
after getting the vaccine. However, there is no proof that would suggest
any relation between vaccines and above such disease (Higgins-Dunn Noah,
2020)(Grady Denise & Mazzei Patricia, 2021) Unfortunately, these
misconceptions impede the acceptance of vaccines and its desired
effects.