title: Community knowledge and experience of mosquitoes and personal prevention and control practices in Lhasa, Tibet.
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.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 155 Changbai Road, Changping District, Beijing 102206, China. liuxiaobo@icdc.cn.
authors.forename: Xiaobo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 155 Changbai Road, Changping District, Beijing 102206, China. wanfangjun1989@163.com.
authors.forename: Fangjun
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: Tibet Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 21 Linkuo North Road, Lhasa 850000, China. cirendunzhuok@126.com.
authors.lastname: Cirendunzhu
authors.affiliation: Lhasa Chengguan District Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 Hongqi West Road, Lhasa 850000, China. 18908916466@189.cn.
authors.lastname: Cirenwangla
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 155 Changbai Road, Changping District, Beijing 102206, China. yan_lili407@126.com.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.affiliation: Tibet Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 21 Linkuo North Road, Lhasa 850000, China. pc911amcdc@163.com.
authors.lastname: Pengcuociren
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 155 Changbai Road, Changping District, Beijing 102206, China. zhoulin.scu@163.com.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Tibet Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 21 Linkuo North Road, Lhasa 850000, China. nc916@126.com.
authors.lastname: Baimaciwang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 155 Changbai Road, Changping District, Beijing 102206, China. guoyuhong@icdc.cn.
authors.forename: Yuhong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Tibet Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 21 Linkuo North Road, Lhasa 850000, China. dazhen199478@163.com.
authors.lastname: Dazhen
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Management and Policy, Shandong University, 44 Wenhua Xi Road, Jinan 250014, Shandong, China. junfangxuhappy1987@163.com.
authors.forename: Junfang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 155 Changbai Road, Changping District, Beijing 102206, China. sangshaowei1@163.com.
authors.forename: Shaowei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sang
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Management and Policy, Shandong University, 44 Wenhua Xi Road, Jinan 250014, Shandong, China. xiaoluligood@163.com.
authors.forename: Xiaolu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 155 Changbai Road, Changping District, Beijing 102206, China. gushaohua1989@sina.com.
authors.forename: Shaohua
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 155 Changbai Road, Changping District, Beijing 102206, China. wuhaixia@icdc.cn.
authors.forename: Haixia
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 155 Changbai Road, Changping District, Beijing 102206, China. wangjun@icdc.cn.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Tibet Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 21 Linkuo North Road, Lhasa 850000, China. xzcdcdawa@sina.com.
authors.lastname: Dawa
authors.affiliation: Tibet Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 21 Linkuo North Road, Lhasa 850000, China. xzcdc-xr@163.com.
authors.lastname: Xiraoruodeng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 155 Changbai Road, Changping District, Beijing 102206, China. liuqiyong@icdc.cn.
authors.forename: Qiyong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D009033:Culicidae; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009032:Mosquito Control / Q000592:standards*; D018609:Tibet; D055815:Young Adult