Abstract
BackgroundThe World Health Organization (WHO) declares Chikungunya (CHIK) infection to be endemic in South Asia. Despite its first outbreak in Pakistan, no documented evidence exists which reveals the knowledge or awareness of healthcare students and workers (HCSW) regarding CHIK, its spread, symptoms, treatment and prevention. Since CHIK is an emergent infection in Pakistan, poor disease knowledge may result in a significant delay in diagnosis and treatment. The current study was aimed to evaluate the awareness and knowledge of CHIK among HCSW.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among HCSW from teaching institutes and hospitals in seven provinces of Pakistan. We collected information on socio-demographic characteristics of the participants and their knowledge by using a 30-item questionnaire. The cumulative knowledge score (CKS) was calculated by correct answers with maximum score of 22. The relationship between demographics and knowledge score was evaluated by using appropriate statistical methods.ResultsThere were 563 respondents; mean age 25.2 ± 5.9 years with female preponderance (62.5%). Of these, 319 (56.7%) were aware of CHIK infection before administering the survey. The average knowledge score was 12.8 ± 4.1 (% knowledge score: 58.2%). Only 31% respondents had good disease knowledge while others had fair (36.4%) and poor (32.6%) knowledge. Out of five knowledge domains, domain III (vector, disease spread and transmission) and V (prevention and treatment) scored lowest among all i.e. percent score 44.5% and 54.1%, respectively. We found that socio-demographic characteristics had no influence on knowledge score of the study participants.ConclusionApproximately one-half of participants were not aware of CHIK infection and those who were aware had insufficient disease knowledge. Findings of the current study underscore the dire need of educational interventions not only for health care workers but also for students, irrespective to the discipline of study.
Highlights
Chikungunya virus (CHIKV; genus Alphavirus, family Togaviridae) is transmitted to humans by Aedes mosquitos in sylvatic or urban transmission cycle and was first identified in Tanzania in the 1950s (Costa-da Silva et al, 2017)
The knowledge score was distributed between demographics and we found no relationship of demographic parameters with knowledge score
The main findings of the present study revealed that healthcare students and workers (HCSW) had inadequate awareness and knowledge of CHIK infection
Summary
Chikungunya virus (CHIKV; genus Alphavirus, family Togaviridae) is transmitted to humans by Aedes mosquitos in sylvatic (animal-mosquito-man) or urban (man-mosquitoman) transmission cycle and was first identified in Tanzania in the 1950s (Costa-da Silva et al, 2017). In summer 2017, Pakistan experienced its first ever CHIK outbreak in Karachi, a metropolis of approximately 25 million inhabitants. This outbreak resulted in 30,000 suspected cases where only 803 were reported to World Health Organization (WHO) (Mallhi et al, 2017a). Despite its first outbreak in Pakistan, no documented evidence exists which reveals the knowledge or awareness of healthcare students and workers (HCSW) regarding CHIK, its spread, symptoms, treatment and prevention. Since CHIK is an emergent infection in Pakistan, poor disease knowledge may result in a significant delay in diagnosis and treatment. Findings of the current study underscore the dire need of educational interventions for health care workers and for students, irrespective to the discipline of study
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