Stigmatization of Patients With Viral Infections and Mass Psychogenic Illness

Abstract

Background: The stigmatization of viral patients is primarily a negative attitude and a common opinion about people suffering from various infectious diseases of the viral etiology and their consequences. The belief and the attitude that individuals are not socially acceptable because potentially spreading contagion for the outcome has negative discrimination in our society. Often such persons are excommunicated, which extends through all the social layers and ages.

Methods: The PubMed, ScienceDirect, and SpringerLink databases were used for the research. Keywords stigma, viral infection, infected patient, discrimination, isolation were entered to identify papers dealing with a viral infection, and stigmatization.

Results: After screening available databases in the last five years according to the selected keywords, the PubMed database yielded nine articles, the ScienceDirect identified initially 87 articles, SpringerLink identified 42 articles. Viral infection and stigmatization are of interest to numerous scientists.

Conclusion: The availability of information should create empathy and ensure openness to diversity. Following the available literature, we understand that the biggest problem today is the social exclusion of people due to their viral illness, but equally the self-isolation of those infected due to the fear of being rejected and the misunderstanding of people from the environment.