Assesment of knowledge towards tuberculosis among general population in Klang District, Malaysia

Abstract

Tuberculosis is one of the oldest and highly infectious communicable disease. Although tuberculosis disease can be treated and prevented, it is the second most common cause of death attributable to the infectious disease. The aim of this study is to assess the level of knowledge regarding tuberculosis disease among the general population in klang district, Malaysia. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 300 general people in 2017. The pre-validated and bilingual standardized questionnaire that consists of respondent's socio-demographic characteristics and knowledge questions were used for this study. The data from this study were analyzed by using SPSS version 23.0 and descriptive analysis was used to elaborate demographic characteristics. Out of 300 study participants (47% males and 53% females), only 57% have heard about tuberculosis and 65% of them wish to get more information on tuberculosis. In addition, 20% of them correctly said that inhaling Mycobacterium tuberculosis can cause tuberculosis. This study reveals that knowledge towards tuberculosis within the population is average and it is thus suggested some force-full awareness campaigns and courses should be conducted.