Community knowledge and experience of mosquitoes and personal prevention and control practices in Lhasa, Tibet.

Xiaobo Liu,Shaohua Gu,Dazhen Dazhen,Haixia Wu,Fangjun Wan,Shaowei Sang,Qiyong Liu,Dawa Dawa,Li Bai,Baimaciwang Baimaciwang,Junfang Xu,Xiraoruodeng Xiraoruodeng,Jun Wang,Yuhong Guo,Cirendunzhu Cirendunzhu,Cirenwangla Cirenwangla,Lin Zhou,Pengcuociren Pengcuociren,Xiaolu Li

doi:10.3390/ijerph110909919

Abstract

Since 2009, great public attention has been paid in Lhasa City (Tibet, China) to mosquito bites and accompanying inflammatory complications. However, the potential contribution of knowledge levels, experiences, disease control and preventive practices (KEP) towards mosquitoes has not received much attention. To investigate community KEP concerning mosquitoes in Lhasa, a cross-sectional survey was undertaken in four sub-districts of urban Lhasa in 2012. Questionnaires were designed to collect information regarding socio-demographics and KEP concerning the harmful effects of mosquitoes on participants. The scoring for KEP was developed after consultation of literature. A total of 591 eligible questionnaires were examined. The majority of respondents were female (61.8%) with a mean age of 46 years. Nearly all of the respondents were of Tibetan nationality (97.4%) and living in registered native households (92.7%), who have less than primary school education. The averages of overall score, knowledge score, experience score, and practice score were 9.23, 4.53, 1.80, 2.90, respectively. The registered household with the highest overall score, knowledge score and practice score was non-native. Female subjects with monthly incomes between 1000 and 3000 RMB had higher experience scores. The correlation analysis revealed that significant positive linear correlations existed between knowledge and experience, knowledge and practices, and experience and practices towards mosquitoes. Past experiences with mosquitoes can result in a better knowledge of effective mosquito control practices in the present and the future. Though the average of overall scores related to mosquitoes is high among the participants in Lhasa, however, the knowledge about the ecological habits of mosquitoes should be strengthened. The findings in this study may help to develop strategies and measures of mosquito and mosquito-borne diseases in the future, not only in Lhasa, but also in similar altitude, latitude and longitude regions worldwide.

Highlights

Mosquito-borne diseases and pestiferous mosquito species are a major public health problem worldwide [1]
The analysis of baseline knowledge level, experience, control and preventive practices (KEP) of mosquitoes in urban Lhasa [1,20,41] should help in the development and improvement of targeted mosquito and mosquito-borne disease control and prevention strategies and measures in the future
6.1% stated that they cannot distinguish them from other insects, and 2.2% have no knowledge of mosquitoes

Summary

Introduction

Mosquito-borne diseases and pestiferous mosquito species are a major public health problem worldwide [1]. Diseases such as West Nile disease, malaria, dengue fever and Chikungunya fever are undergoing a resurgence and redistribution under global climate change [2,3,4]. Mosquito-borne diseases are being reported at high elevations in the highlands of Asia, Central Africa, and Latin America, and malaria could threaten major elevated urban centers such as Nairobi, Kenya [5]. In China, mosquito-borne diseases continue to be a serious public health problem and have caused substantial morbidity and mortality in recent years [6]. Lhasa City is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) of China. The average altitude of Lhasa is about 3650 m above sea level, with a 2010 population of 559,423 people

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