Abstract
Zika virus disease is a disease of public health importance and was declared a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern”, by the World Health Organization on February 1, 2016. It is mostly transmitted through the bite of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitos. Transmission can also occur through blood transfusion and sexual intercourse. It could cause microcephaly and other neurological problems in newborns and adults, such as Guillain-Barre syndrome. It could also lead to abortion and stillbirth in pregnant women. Prevention methods are essentially targeted at transmission routes, which are mosquito bite, sexual intercourse, and blood transfusion. The study was of observational, descriptive, cross-sectional design, and conducted in a tertiary health institution in the Southeast geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Two hundred and fifty-six female caregivers participated in the study, with most of them being within the childbearing age group, and educated up to tertiary level. The objective was to assess the knowledge of Zika virus infection prevention methods, among female caregivers that bring babies for immunization in a Teaching Hospital, Southeast Nigeria. Out of the eight questions that sought to assess the knowledge level of the respondents, they scored 50% and above only in three, which were on prevention through protection against mosquito bite (60.5%), avoiding unnecessary blood transfusion in endemic areas (53.9%), and avoidance of oily meals not being a preventive measure (51.2%). Respondents in the childbearing age group, and those with higher educational qualifications, generally exhibited higher knowledge level than the other respondents. Scores on questions that sought to assess their knowledge on prevention aspects related to sexual behavior, and vaccination were poor. Sensitization, or awareness creation activities for persons in this study area, ought to be designed to address the observed gaps.
Highlights
Zika virus infection has become a disease of global public health importance with its sporadic outbreaks from one region to another [1]
Prevention methods are essentially targeted at transmission routes, which are mosquito bite, sexual intercourse, and blood transfusion
The objective was to assess the knowledge of Zika virus infection prevention methods, among female caregivers that bring babies for immunization in a Teaching Hospital, Southeast Nigeria
Summary
Zika virus infection has become a disease of global public health importance with its sporadic outbreaks from one region to another [1]. It was first isolated from a febrile Rhesus monkey in the Zika forest of Uganda in 1947, and named after the forest in 1952 [2]. Since Zika virus infection report in Uganda, there has been documented evidence of its spread to other Asian and African countries like Senegal [4], Ivory Coast, Egypt, India, Malaysia, Philippine [5], Indonesia [6] [7], Colombia, and Brazil [8]. The outbreaks in 2015 and 2016 were a major challenge due to drift from its earlier known benign exanthematous spectrum to causing microcephaly in newborn [9]
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