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NHS Highland consultant battles against coronavirus myths


By Scott Maclennan

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Sharon Pfleger is taking to social media to combat myths around Covid-19.
Sharon Pfleger is taking to social media to combat myths around Covid-19.

AN NHS Highland consultant is taking on fake news circulating off the back of the coronavirus pandemic.

Sharon Pfleger, a consultant in pharmaceutical public health, has produced a series of videos hitting back at some of current myths.

She has so far touched on President Donald Trump’s medical advice, the impact of certain medicines and the idea of drinking water to flush the virus out, among others.

“Social media is brilliant for sharing information very widely but the downside to that is th sharing of misinformation, and we’ve seen this a lot during the Covid-19 outbreak,” she said. “Basically put, the danger of that in the time of a pandemic due to a virus is that bad information goes viral. A great example would be what President Trump said about anti-malarials – ‘what do you have to lose?’

“Also, we all know that antibiotics are used for bacterial infections and not viral infections, so taking antibiotics won’t help with Covid-19.”

Mrs Pfleger is also sharing information about what to do if you become unwell.

“I think what we’ve seen, especially with the case of Boris Johnson going into hospital, is that you may have mild symptoms of the virus, but all of a sudden you can go downhill,” she said. “So it’s a good idea to have a bag packed ready to go into hospital just like you would if you were going to have a baby. I suggest people also think about medicines: put together a list of what you are taking and what you take them for, as this will help the staff in hospital very quickly get an idea of your health at the moment.”

Mrs Pfleger’s videos can be seen on Twitter @SharonPfleger

Read more coronavirus news here.


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