Knowledge, awareness and practices regarding dengue fever among the adult population of dengue hit cosmopolitan.
BACKGROUND
The World health Organization (WHO) declares dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever to be endemic in South Asia. Despite the magnitude of problem, no documented evidence exists in Pakistan which reveals the awareness and practices of the country's adult population regarding dengue fever, its spread, symptoms, treatment and prevention. This study was conducted to assess the level of knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding dengue fever in people visiting tertiary care hospitals in Karachi, Pakistan.


METHODS
A cross-sectional pilot study was conducted among people visiting tertiary care hospitals in Karachi. Through convenience sampling, a pre-tested and structured questionnaire was administered through a face-to-face unprompted interview with 447 visitors. Knowledge was recorded on a scale of 1-3.


RESULTS
About 89.9% of individuals interviewed had heard of dengue fever. Sufficient knowledge about dengue was found to be in 38.5% of the sample, with 66% of these in Aga Khan University Hospital and 33% in Civil Hospital Karachi. Literate individuals were relatively more well-informed about dengue fever as compared to the illiterate people (p<0.001). Knowledge based upon preventive measures was found to be predominantly focused towards prevention of mosquito bites (78.3%) rather than eradication of mosquito population (17.3%). Use of anti-mosquito spray was the most prevalent (48.1%) preventive measure. Television was considered as the most important and useful source of information on the disease.


CONCLUSIONS
Adult population of Karachi has adequate knowledge related to the disease 'dengue' on isolated aspects, but the overall prevalence of 'sufficient knowledge' based on our criteria is poor. We demonstrated adequate prevalence of preventive practices against the disease. Further studies correlating the association between knowledge and its effectiveness against dengue will be helpful in demonstrating the implications of awareness campaigns.
Itrat
Ahmed
A
Medical College, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.
Khan
Abdullah
A
Javaid
Sunniya
S
Kamal
Mahwash
M
Khan
Hassan
H
Javed
Sannia
S
Kalia
Saira
S
Khan
Adil Haleem
AH
Sethi
Muhammad Imran
MI
Jehan
Imtiaz
I
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003715:Dengue / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009032:Mosquito Control; D010154:Pakistan; D044382:Population Groups; D012044:Regression Analysis