Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practice towards rabies and associated factors among household heads in Mekelle city, Ethiopia

Weldegerima Gebremedhin Hagos,Goyitom Gebremdehn Gebru,Kebede Ambaye Reda,Berihun Assefa Dachew,Gebreamlak Gebremariam Mezgebe,Kindie Fentahun Muchie

doi:10.1186/s12889-020-8145-7

Weldegerima Gebremedhin Hagos, Goyitom Gebremdehn Gebru + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-8145-7

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Abstract

BackgroundRabies has a worldwide distribution in continental regions of Africa, Asia and the Latin America. Globally, the case fatality rate is 100% once a clinical sign is developed. Poor public awareness towards rabies is one of the major obstacles in any prevention and control scheme of the diseases. The study aimed to assess knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) about rabies and associated factors among household heads in Mekelle city, Northern Ethiopia, 2016.MethodsA community based cross-sectional study was conducted from October to November 2016 with a total of 633 study participants. Data were collected using a pretested structured questionnaire and entered to EPI-Info 3.5.4 and coded, cleaned and analyzed using SPSS version 20 software. Bi variable and multivariable analysis was done to identify factors associated with knowledge, attitude and practice about rabies. Variables having p < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant at 95%CI.ResultsOf 633 study participants, 357 (56.4%) were females and 239 (37.8%) were 18–35 years old. Among the study participants, 56.1% (95%CI = 52.2, 59.9), 56.2% (95%CI = 52.4, 60.1) and 61.3% (95%CI = 57.5, 65.1) had good level of knowledge, attitude and practice on the prevention and control of rabies respectively. Being female (AOR = 1.50, 95%CI = 1.05, 2.13), dog owner (AOR = 1.68, 95%CI = 1.17, 2.41) and participants who had training on rabies (AOR = 2.22, 95%CI = 1.53, 3.21) were found to have good knowledge. Married participants (AOR = 2.19, 95%CI = 1.16, 4.16), participants who owned dog (AOR = 2.64, 95%CI = 1.80, 3.86) and those encountered dog bite (AOR = 2.24, 95%CI = 1.23, 4.10) were found to have positive attitude towards rabies. Similarly, dog ownership (AOR = 11.85, 95%CI = 7.16, 19.6) was found to be associated with good practice.ConclusionThis study showed that more than half of the respondents had good knowledge, attitude and practice about the prevention and control of rabies.

Highlights

Rabies has a worldwide distribution in continental regions of Africa, Asia and the Latin America
Rabies is one of the oldest viral disease caused by the species of rabies virus which belongs to the Mononegavirales order, Rhabdoviridae family and Lyssavirus genus [1]
Knowledge of participants towards rabies This study revealed that 555(87.8%) of respondents had heard information about rabies (Additional file 2: Table S1)

Summary

Introduction

Rabies has a worldwide distribution in continental regions of Africa, Asia and the Latin America. Rabies is one of the oldest viral disease caused by the species of rabies virus which belongs to the Mononegavirales order, Rhabdoviridae family and Lyssavirus genus [1]. It is a single-stranded, negative-sense lyssavirus (genotype 1) with a genome size of approximately 12 kb. Rabies causes incurable viral encephalitis and it is progressively fatal [2]. Human Rabies usually transmitted in saliva from a rabid animal bite or scratch. Human rabies encephalitis is 100% fatal, it is 100% preventable if post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is taken timely and effectively by the exposed victims [3, 4]. Exposure to rabid animal can be eliminated at source through sustained mass vaccination of reservoir populations [3, 4]

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