Knowledge, and attitude of medical students about role of human papilloma virus, and vaccine in head and neck cancer

Abstract

BackgroundPapilloma DNA virus which is most common sexually transmitted disease to both sexes. The infection either benign or malignant affecting head and neck region. Aim of the studyAssess the level of knowledge, and attitude, of medical students about Human Papilloma virus, vaccine, and its role in head and neck cancer development. Materials and methodsA descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted on 357 undergraduate medical students. Data were collected by online Google form researcher made questionnaires which was analyzed using SPSS 25. ResultsThere are 357 medical undergraduate students from different educational stages participated in this study. This study was shown 176 (49.3 %) of medical students agreed that smoking Tobacco are the most common causes for development oral cancer followed by viruses 98 (27.5 %), that 57.4 % of medical students reported that HPV was the main viral cause. As for the questions concerning HPV mode of transmission, almost (85.7 %) stated sexual transmission, (79.8 %) skin to skin direct contact. Most of the participants (92.2 %) agreed that primary prevention can decrease the risk of infection with HPV, and 43.4 % strongly agreed that vaccination plays an important role in HPV prevention. ConclusionsThere is a requirement within the existing curriculum and syllabus to include more education, seminars, and training courses on HPV, role in HNC, prevention, and vaccination, and mainly for students in the preclinical academic years. Application of a virtual classroom viral module or communicating workshop would likely improve knowledge and attitudes of the students for their future medical tasks.