Survey of knowledge and practice of residents about schistosomiasis prevention and control in endemic areas of Jingzhou City

Abstract

To investigate the knowledge and practice of residents about schistosomiasis prevention and control in endemic areas of Jingzhou City, Hubei Province after the disease transmission being controlled, so as to provide the valuable information for formulating an efficient health education and intervention strategy. The residents were selected by using the cluster sampling method and investigated with questionnaires in Jiangling County and Gong'an County, Jingzhou City, Hubei Province, and the data were analyzed by using the descriptive analysis method, Chi-square tests and logistic regression. In a total, 826 available questionnaires were obtained with 100% of valid rate. Among them, 97.0% of the interviewee knew schistosomiasis, and 86.3% knew that the infection happened by contacting water containing cercariae. The residents in elder age (41-84 years) had higher awareness rates than the residents in lower age (6-17 years), about the regions of epidemic area (χ2 = 57.860), infection route of schistosomiasis (χ2 = 87.045), advanced schistosomiasis symptoms (χ2 = 27.268) and Oncomelania hupensis being as intermediate host (χ2 = 55.856) (all P < 0.05) . The males had higher awareness rates of epidemic areas than the females (χ2 = 13.442, P < 0.05) . For personal behavior, 36.6% of the interviewee had experience of contacting lake or pond water many times a day, and 66.5% had the willingness to participate in schistosomiasis health education. In the investigation areas, Jiangling County and Gong'an County, the awareness rates of the residents about schistosomiasis prevention and control are higher, and we should strengthen the health education and behavior intervention, especially in the students of middle and primary schools to help them have the self-protection ability efficiently.