US computer scientists from John Hopkins University, have been
researching and scouring Twitter for any health related tweeting
inside of America. Having read and looked at over 1.5 million
tweets, all related to the health of tweeters from 2009 to 2010,
they found some interesting facts. Mainly, that peoples self
diagnosis and self treatment were often incorrect and unsuitable
for their sickness. It turns out, a fair few of the general
public tend to use the incorrect drugs and remedies to relieve
symptoms of illness. PhD student Michael J. Paul (who helped on
the research project) continued to explain this point by saying,
“Tweets showed that some serious medical misperceptions exist.
We found that some people tweeted that they were taking
antibiotics for the flu. But antibiotics don’t work on the flu,
which is a virus, and this practice could contribute to the
growing antibiotic resistance problems.” Care In the Community
This is an excellent example of how Twitter, more than any other
social media, is a g