Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Infodemiology
Date Submitted: Apr 24, 2021
Open Peer Review Period: Apr 24, 2021 - Jun 19, 2021
Date Accepted: Dec 7, 2021
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Misinformation About and Interest in Chlorine Dioxide During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Mexico Identified Using Google Trends Data: An Infodemiological Study.
ABSTRACT
Background:
The COVID-19 pandemic triggered the appearance of several emerging therapies or preventives that lack scientific evidence. Chlorine dioxide is commonly used in the cleaning industry and is available commercially as a mineral solution. This substance has been promoted as a preventive or treatment agent for several diseases, including SARS-CoV-2 infection. As interest in chlorine dioxide has grown since the start of the pandemic, health agencies, institutions, and organizations worldwide have tried to discourage and restrict the consumption of this substance.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to analyze search engine trends in Mexico to determine the public interest in chlorine dioxide since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods:
We downloaded items mentioning the Spanish equivalent of the term “chlorine dioxide” from the Google Trends platform. The location was set to Mexico, and the time frame from March 3, 2019, to February 21, 2021. A descriptive visual analysis was performed. The Kruskal–Wallis and Dunn tests were used to identify significant changes in search volumes for this term between four consecutive time periods, each of 13 weeks, from March 1, 2020, to February 27, 2021.
Results:
From the beginning of the pandemic in Mexico (March 2020), an upward trend was observed in the number of searches compared with that in 2019. Maximum interest was recorded during the week of July 19-25, 2020. The search volumes declined between September and November 2020, but another peak was recorded in December 2020 through February 2021, which reached a peak value of 97 on January 10. Pairwise comparisons using the Kruskal–Wallis and Dunn tests showed significant differences between the four periods (P<.001).
Conclusions:
Misinformation is a public health risk because it can lower compliance with the recommended measures and encourage the use of therapies that have not been proven safe. The ingestion of chlorine dioxide represents a danger to the population and several adverse reactions have been reported. Programs should be implemented to direct those interested in this substance to accurate medical information.
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