title: Knowledge, attitudes and practices relating to influenza A(H7N9) risk among live poultry traders in Guangzhou City, China.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Live poultry traders (LPTs) have greater risk to avian influenza due to occupational exposure to poultry. This study investigated knowledge, attitudes and practices of LPTs relating to influenza A (H7N9).
  
  
  METHODS
  Using multi-stage cluster sampling, 306 LPTs were interviewed in Guangzhou by a standardized questionnaire between mid-May to June, 2013. Hierarchical logistic regression models were used to identify factors associated with preventive practices and attitudes towards various control measures implemented in live poultry markets against H7N9.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Only 46.1% of the respondents recognized risks associated with contacts with bird secretions or droppings, and only 22.9% perceived personally "likely/very likely" to contract H7N9 infection. Around 60% of the respondents complied with hand-washing and wearing gloves, and only 20% reported wearing face masks. Only 16.3% of the respondents agreed on introducing central slaughtering of poultry. Being younger, involving in slaughtering poultry, having longer working hours, less access to H7N9-related information and poorer knowledge, and perceiving lower personal susceptibility to H7N9 infection were negatively associated with preventive practices. Comparing with previous studies conducted when human cases of H5N1 avian influenza infection was first identified in Guangdong, LPTs' perceived susceptibility to novel influenza viruses increased significantly but acceptance for central slaughtering of poultry remained low.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Information on avian influenza provided through multiple communication tools may be necessary to promote knowledge among poultry traders. Familiarity with risk may have led to the lower perceived vulnerability to avian influenza and less protective actions among the LPTs particularly for those involving more risky exposure to live poultry. Reasons for the consistently low acceptance for central slaughtering of poultry await further exploration.
authors.forename: Xiaowei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Qiuyan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Yufei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yanhui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jiandong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Jianping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Wenfeng
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Benjamin J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Cowling
authors.forename: Biao
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Di
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fielding
authors.affiliation: Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guangzhou, 510440, Guangdong Province, China. wangming@gzcdc.org.cn.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zhicong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Gabriel M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Leung
authors.forename: Eric H Y
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Lau
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D006235:Hand Disinfection; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D064766:Influenza A Virus, H7N9 Subtype; D005585:Influenza in Birds / Q000635:transmission / Q000821:virology*; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000821:virology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011200:Poultry; D012306:Risk; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult