Infodemiological study on COVID-19 epidemic and COVID-19 infodemic

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-18591/v1

Abstract

Background Less aligned emphasis has been given to the COVID-19 infodemic coordinating with the COVID-19 outbreak. Global profusion of tangled monikers and hashtags has found their ways in daily communication and contributed to backlash against Chinese. Official naming efforts against infodemic should be meet with a fair share of identification. Based on brief critical reviews on previous multifarious naming practices, we punctuate heuristic introspection in scientific conventions and sociocultural paradigms.  Methods Infodemiological analysis promises to articulate that people around the globe are divided in their favor stigmatized monikers in the public and scientific communities because of perceptual bias.  Results There is no positive correlation between the degree of infection in their territories and collective perceptual bias against COVID-19. The official portfolio “COVID-19” and “SARS-CoV-2” has not become de facto standard usages, but full-fledged official names are excepted to duly contribute to the resilience of negative perceptual bias and collective behavioral propensities amid public panic. Conclusions As an integral component of preparedness, appropriate nomenclatures should be duly assigned to the newly identified coronavirus and caused respiratory tract disease in humans amid global public health crisis.

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Tables

Table 1 Chronological list of published articles with multifarious proposal names*.

#

Date

Article

Proposal Name

1

18 January

Cheng VCC, Wong S-C, To KKW, Ho PL, Yuen K-Y. Preparedness and proactive infection control measures against the emerging Wuhan coronavirus pneumonia in China. J Hosp Infect 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2020.01.010.

Wuhan Coronavirus Pneumonia

2

20 January

Parry J. China coronavirus: cases surge as official admits human to human transmission. Br Med J 2020;368:m236. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m236.

China Coronavirus

3

21 January

Stop the Wuhan virus. Nature 2020; 577:450–450. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-00153-x.

Wuhan Virus

4

22 January

Callaway E, Cyranoski D. China coronavirus: Six questions scientists are asking. Nature 2020; 577:605–7. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-00166-6.

China Coronavirus

5

22 January

Liu S-L, Saif L. Emerging Viruses without Borders: The Wuhan Coronavirus. Viruses 2020; 12:130. https://doi.org/10.3390/v12020130.

Wuhan Coronavirus

6

23 January

Callaway E, Cyranoski D. Why snakes probably aren’t spreading the new China virus. Nature 2020. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-00180-8.

China Virus

7

24 January

Mahase E. China coronavirus: what do we know so far? Br Med J 2020;368:m308. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m308.

China Coronavirus

8

28 January

Mahase E. China coronavirus: mild but infectious cases may make it hard to control outbreak, report warns. Br Med J 2020;368:m325. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m325.

China Coronavirus

9

29 January

Parry J. China coronavirus: partial border closures into Hong Kong are not enough, say doctors. Br Med J 2020;368:m349. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m349.

China Coronavirus

10

31 January

Callaway E. China coronavirus: labs worldwide scramble to analyse live samples. Nature 2020; 578:16–16. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-00262-7.

China Coronavirus

11

31 January

Mahase E. China coronavirus: WHO declares international emergency as death toll exceeds 200. Br Med J 2020;368:m408. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m408.

China Coronavirus

12

31 January

Bassetti M, Vena A, Giacobbe DR. The novel Chinese coronavirus (2019-nCoV) infections: Challenges for fighting the storm. Eur J Clin Invest 2020: e13209. https://doi.org/10.1111/eci.13209.

Novel Chinese Coronavirus

13

31 January

Ralph R, Lew J, Zeng T, Francis M, Xue B, Roux M, et al. 2019-nCoV (Wuhan virus), a novel Coronavirus: human-to-human transmission, travel-related cases, and vaccine readiness. J Infect Dev Ctries 2020; 14:3–17. https://doi.org/10.3855/jidc.12425.

Wuhan Virus

14

3 February

Wu F, Zhao S, Yu B, Chen Y-M, Wang W, Song Z-G, et al. A new coronavirus associated with human respiratory disease in China. Nature 2020. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2008-3.

WH-Human-1 Coronavirus (Wuhan-Human-1 Coronavirus)

15

4 February

Parry J. China coronavirus: Hong Kong health staff strike to demand border closure as city records first death. Br Med J 2020;368:m454. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m454.

China Coronavirus

16

5 February

Jiang S, Xia S, Ying T, Lu L. A novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) causing pneumonia-associated respiratory syndrome. Cell Mol Immunol 2020. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41423-020-0372-4.

PARS-CoV (Pneumonia Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus)

17

7 February

Cyranoski D. Did pangolins spread the China coronavirus to people? Nature 2020. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-00364-2.

China Coronavirus

18

11 February

Wang L-F, Anderson DE, Mackenzie JS, Merson MH. From Hendra to Wuhan: what has been learned in responding to emerging zoonotic viruses. Lancet 2020;395: e33–4. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30350-0.

HARS-CoV (Han Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus)

19

11 February

Gorbalenya AE, Baker SC, Baric RS, Groot RJ De, Gulyaeva AA, Haagmans BL, et al. The species and its viruses – a statement of the Coronavirus Study Group. BioRxiv 2020. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.02.07.937862.

SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2)

20

12 February

Zhou T, Liu Q, Yang Z, Liao J, Yang K, Bai W, et al. Preliminary prediction of the basic reproduction number of the Wuhan novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV. J Evid Based Med 2020. https://doi.org/10.1111/jebm.12376.

Wuhan Novel Coronavirus

21

14 February

Jiang S, Shi Z-L. The First Disease X is Caused by a Highly Transmissible Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus. Virol Sin 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12250-020-00206-5.

TARS-CoV (Transmissible Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus)

22

19 February

Jiang S, Shi Z, Shu Y, Song J, Gao GF, Tan W, et al. A distinct name is needed for the new coronavirus. Lancet 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30419-0.

HCoV-19 (Human Coronavirus 2019)

23

19 February

G. K.-M. Goh, A. K. Dunker, J. A. Foster, V. N. Uversky, Rigidity of the Outer Shell Predicted by a Protein Intrinsic Disorder Model Sheds Light on the COVID-19 (Wuhan-2019-nCoV) Infectivity. Biomolecules. 10, 331 (2020).

Wuhan-2019-nCoV

24

19 February

S. Kooraki, M. Hosseiny, L. Myers, A. Gholamrezanezhad, Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak: What the Department of Radiology Should Know. J. Am. Coll. Radiol. (2020), doi:10.1016/j.jacr.2020.02.008.

NCIP (Novel coronavirus-infected pneumonia)

25

26 February

J. Xia, J. Tong, M. Liu, Y. Shen, D. Guo, Evaluation of Coronavirus in Tears and Conjunctival Secretions of Patients With SARS-CoV-2 Infection. J. Med. Virol. (2020), doi:10.1002/jmv.25725.

NCP (Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia)

*Note:  As of 26 February 2020, the articles have been retrieved from the PubMed.