Yesterday morning, several British newspapers as well as tabloids (joined by a wave of bloggers) informed that Facebook use had been “related to an increase in Syphilis” in several cities in the UK. That is surely an attention-inviting headline, yet Facebook users out there may wish to think second times before laying any weight into the claim. For initially, the article in The Telegraph, which seems to be among the first publications already damaged the news, go off to a bad beginning: it said that Syphilis is resulted by a virus (it is in fact a bacterium infection — I knew my biology academic title would come in useful for one day!). However more necessary, the story’s facts are faint the number one.
First, the articles are concerned said that several Syphilis infections in the city of English Teesside has grown to a defeat thirty cases in 2009 ago (mount from only ten cases from the previous year). Certainly, that is a big breakthrough percentage-wise, yet the little sample size as well as the full lack of details about any of these studies obtain the inference that Facebook can somehow be connected to Syphilis very doubtful.
Every of the articles excerpt the similar person such as: Professor Peter Kelly from director of Public Health for NHS Tees, as well as none of the excerpt seems to include any concrete proof. Following a sample excerpt took from The Sun that does not right inspire confidence (okay, I understand it is a tabloid, yet it has more excerpt than the other articles):
“I don’t get the names of people affected, just figures. And I saw that several of the people had met sexual partners through these sites. Social networking sites are making it easier for people to meet up for casual sex. There is a rise in syphilis because people are having more sexual partners than 20 years ago and often do not use condoms.”
This audible more as if an observation based on a little several cases rather than a well-established trend, as well as it does not said anything about causation. I am neither the first to notice this — Dr. Petra Boynton of the UK has making out a detailed blog post described the lack of proofs excerpted in the notification, as well as Dr. Ben Goldacre is attempting to collecting further details from the NHS (which has gone quiet, according to his Twitter posts). The Guardian has shows the deficiency of the claims as well.
I reached out to Facebook for a confirmation. Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes confirm:
While it makes for interesting headlines, the assertions made in newspaper reports that Facebook is responsible for the transmission of STDs are ridiculous, exaggerate the comments made by the professor, and ignore the difference between correlation and causation. As Facebook’s more than 400 million users know, our Web site is not a place to meet people for casual sex – it’s a place for friends, family and coworkers to connect and share.
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