To protect health and life-Be careful with SNS medical information-December 13th 13:57

When you feel anxious about the health of yourself or your family, there are many people who use SNS or search sites to check for possible illnesses and treatments.
However, there is a spread of medical information on the Internet that is untrue or uncertain. The big problem now is the presence of people who are obsessed with such information and as a result move away from proper treatment.
If there is a lot of anxiety or impatience, there is a danger that everyone will fall.
How can we determine information to protect life and health?
Information on my child's health was investigated by SNS, and two directors who were confused and were in the middle of raising children entered the scene.
(Social Program Department Haruka Takeuchi, Video Center Nori Shimizu)

What I noticed is information that emphasizes danger

"I'm sorry for the children that they've done something stupid ..."

The first day I met, Akiko Yamamoto (a pseudonym) clogged her voice with tears. Believing only on the information that “Vaccine is dangerous!” That was overflowing on the Internet, until the second son was three years old, such as “Four kinds of mixture” and “Water tank” that the country recommends inoculation I did not get vaccinated.

Medical information with uncertain grounds Why do you believe it?

Mr. Yamamoto worked as an IT company and was a career woman flying around the country. Mr. Yamamoto who speaks of himself as “a prudent personality”.
When I got information on the Internet, I thought that I had acquired literacy by comparing multiple sites.

Why was such a person confused by medical information whose basis was uncertain?

Yamamoto moved to an unfamiliar land in search of an environment that would make it easier to raise children after the birth of his eldest son. After that, my husband will be assigned to the area alone. Mr. Yamamoto was forced to retire and “lonely childcare” began.

Mr. Yamamoto, who was worried, started to participate in the child-rearing circle in order to make a connection with the community.
When I was connected to those friends on SNS, information such as “Vaccines are dangerous” and “Additives are bad for the body” began to flow frequently.

Mr. Yamamoto's eldest son had atopic dermatitis, so he was more concerned about food and things that touched his skin.
For Mr. Yamamoto, the information about “additives to vaccines” was shocking.
"Vaccines may be dangerous ..."
Yamamoto was upset.

Looking for more information and searching for “vaccine risk” on the Internet, wrong information such as “Vaccine mercury causes autism” and “Vaccine is a pharmaceutical company's conspiracy”, etc. Information highlighting the dangers of was hit.

Mr. Yamamoto gradually began to believe this information, and the second son was hardly vaccinated.

How safe is the vaccine?

A common problem for people avoiding vaccines is that they contain harmful additives.
Vaccine additives are added for the purpose of preventing the growth of bacteria in the vaccine and stabilizing the quality.

For example, the mercury compound “thimerosal”. According to the US CDC = Center for Disease Control, “Thimerosal” is an antibacterial preservative that is difficult to accumulate in the body, decomposes quickly into “ethylmercury” and “thiosalicylate”, and is safe for the past. There is no evidence that caused the problem.
There are many people who feel terrible just because of the sound of “mercury”, but “ethylmercury” is different from “methylmercury”, the causative agent that once caused Minamata disease.

If you get an infection without vaccinating it, it may become severe, sequelae, or death in the worst case.

Due to the spread of vaccines, the incidence of infectious diseases is decreasing.
According to materials from the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, for example, measles used to cost more than 100,000 people annually, and more than 1,000 people die annually, especially children. In Japan, the number of patients decreased year after year after the introduction of the vaccine in 1966.
According to the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, in 2008 when the system to report all patients started, measles spread mainly among teenagers who had not received enough vaccines, and the number of patients reached 10,103. I went up.
In that year, measures were taken to expand the age of subjects who received free vaccines, and the number of patients decreased to 232 in 2013, five years later. Since then, it has decreased by more than 95% compared to 2008.

However, it is not 100% safe because vaccination can cause side reactions.
As for measles, the number of measles and rubella mixed vaccines (MR), which are generally inoculated, has been 16.62 million times from April 2013 to the end of August. Side reactions such as rash and fever occurred in 418 cases, or 0.0025%.

In this way, when we balance the benefits (benefits) of reducing the number of people suffering from infectious diseases with vaccines and the risks of side reactions with vaccines, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare About vaccination is recommended.

Relying on "lonely child-rearing" is online information

This time we talked to Mr. Yamamoto and several other people who have never had their children vaccinated.

What was common to all was “the first child-rearing” and “the lonely child-raising due to the distant parents and busy husbands”.
And they were “parents who really wish for the health of their children”.

When you feel anxious about your child's health, the Internet is a convenient way to search for information.
Some of the people who heard the story referred to personal experiences rather than expert opinions, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and personal blogs.

How to determine SNS medical information

Prof. Satoshi Ohno of Shimane University Medical Hospital Clinical Research Center, who is familiar with complementary and alternative medicine, is aware that the most important point to be aware of when viewing medical information on SNS is that he may make a wrong decision I point out.
On top of that, he says that information that is black and white or simplified for each item such as “natural things are good for the body and artificial things are bad for the body” needs attention.
Also, people cannot make normal judgments when emotions are shaken.
Information that appeals to “feelings” should also be watched.

He introduced two examples.
One is “hope”. Information that gives hope to those who are ill. Care should be taken with information such as “Drinking only XX will cure the disease” and “XX only will make you sick”.
The other is “fear”. It is a content that threatens you by investigating things related to life. Information such as "being sick when eating XX" or "dying when XX" is used.

Professor Ohno also introduced research that people tend to overestimate risks in cases such as "causing harm to children, pregnant women and future generations", "death, illness, and risk of injury". Gave me.

Use SNS well!

On the other hand, if SNS information is not misused, pediatrician Yasumi Morito thinks that SNS has been sending information on vaccines and other information that SNS is a strong ally.

Dr. Morito “It's difficult to read and study books if your child is small. In such a case, SNS is a very useful tool that makes it easy to get information. So I think it should be used well.”

On top of that, Dr. Morito said, “If you feel any doubt or anxiety, please consult your doctor directly.”

SNS and Internet information is easy and convenient, but it depends on the knowledge, literacy and emotion of the user.
Based on these points, I felt that there was a need to get along well rather than being danced by information.

Social Program Department Director Takeuchi Haruka

Video Center Video Production Shiri Shimizu