One of the public health issues faced worldwide is antibiotic resistance (AR). During the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, AR has increased. Since some studies have stated AR has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, and others have stated otherwise, this study aimed to explore this impact. Seven databases—PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, Cochrane, Web of Science, and CINAHL—were searched using related keywords to identify studies relevant to AR during COVID-19 published from December 2019 to May 2022, according to PRISMA guidelines. Twenty-three studies were included in this review, and the evidence showed that AR has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. The most commonly reported resistant Gram-negative bacteria was Acinetobacterbaumannii, followed by Klebsiella pneumonia, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. A. baumannii and K. pneumonia were highly resistant to tested antibiotics compared with E. coli and P. aeruginosa. Moreover, K. pneumonia showed high resistance to colistin. Commonly reported Gram-positive bacteria were Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecium. The resistance of E. faecium to ampicillin, erythromycin, and Ciprofloxacin was high. Self-antibiotic medication, empirical antibiotic administration, and antibiotics prescribed by general practitioners were the risk factors of high levels of AR during COVID-19. Antibiotics’ prescription should be strictly implemented, relying on the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program (ASP) and guidelines from the World Health Organization (WHO) or Ministry of Health (MOH).

Good knowledge, attitude and practice regarding dengue fever are important especially to those exposed to this deadliest disease. Knowledge on vector of the disease, the mode of transmission, the symptoms of the disease, and the correct prevention method are vital to help the public act toward the disease accordingly. On the other hand, good attitude and practice of dengue prevention and ABSTRACT Background: Knowledge, awareness, and practice regarding dengue are important to be cultivated especially among the young generation. This study was commenced to assess the level of knowledge, attitude and practice of dengue fever among undergraduate health science students of University of Science Malaysia, beside to determine the relationship between knowledge regarding dengue and practice of dengue prevention. Methods: Cross sectional survey among 250 undergraduate students was conducted to assess the level of knowledge, attitude, and practice toward dengue using a standardized questionnaire. Data was analysed using SPSS through a few statistical analyses. Results: Majority of the students had moderate level of knowledge, attitude, and practice toward dengue fever. There was a significant, positive, weak correlation between knowledge and practice regarding dengue fever (p<0.05). Conclusions: Level of knowledge, attitude and practice regarding dengue fever among the students could be increased. Social media could be used as an important medium in delivering information on dengue especially among the youths. Effort must be put to translate the components of knowledge into good practice of dengue prevention.

Background: Dengue is one of the most important mosquito-borne diseases which can cause a major problem to human health. Poor practices in dengue prevention especially in the area where dengue is prevalent is among the factors contributing towards dengue spike. This study was commenced to assess the level of attitude and practice toward dengue prevention among the community residing in a dengue prone area, beside identifying the environmental characteristics surrounding the housing compound.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 132 respondents living in a dengue hot spot area. A set of questionnaire form consisted of four parts; socio-demographic information, environmental characteristics around the house, and attitudes and practices toward dengue prevention were distributed to respondents.Results: More than half of the respondents possessed good level of attitude, and more than half scored moderately for practice (57.6% and 56.1% respectively). Data on the environmental characteristics showed that majority of the respondents’ houses have no potential breeding sites for Aedes mosquito. Findings also indicate that there was no significant association between dengue prevention practices and socio-demographic factors such as age, gender, educational level and occupational status.Conclusions: Level of practice of dengue prevention is still considerably low and could be improved through educational campaign. Proper knowledge and information regarding dengue practices should be emphasized among the community especially in high risk area to raise up the awareness and cultivate better practices for dengue prevention.

INTRODUCTIONDengue is one of the most important vector-borne diseases. Naturally, Aedes aegypti breed in areas near human settlements. This domestic habitat of the mosquito expose human to the risk of mosquito bites and consequently dengue virus which may lead to dengue fever. Human activities in daily live such as the need to keep water for erratic water supply, condition of the house like a clogged roof or the shrubbery yard, unplanned landfills, beside improper disposal of containers that can hold water also indirectly provide a breeding ground for mosquitoes. These show how mosquito breeding closely related to human behavior, besides suggesting an important role of a community in controlling mosquito breeding by keeping the cleanliness of their settlement. 1,2Despite the importance of keeping the house free from container that can serve as breeding site for Aedes mosquito, this activity remain low among individual or community. Many studies show low prevalence of good ABSTRACT Background: Dengue is one of the most important vector-borne diseases in Malaysia. Government efforts alone are not sufficient in preventing the disease if people continue to allow the widespread mosquito breeding in their housing compound. Individual or community behavior is an important factor in the prevention of dengue. However, there is no standard instrument to measure the associated factors of dengue preventive behavior. This study commenced to validate and assess the reliability of a newly developed instrument for the constructs measuring factors associated with dengue preventive behavior. Methods: A total of 327 respondents involved in this pilot study, which is a preliminary study to a larger scale study. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was employed to explore underlying constructs of the latent variables. Results: From the EFA, 10 factors (knowledge regarding dengue, behavior toward dengue prevention, fear and awareness toward dengue, motivation to adopt preventive behavior, medical practices for dengue fever, cooperation in dengue prevention, perceived susceptibility of dengue, perceived severity of dengue, perceived benefit from practicing dengue preventive behavior, and perceived barrier toward dengue preventive behavior) emerged contributing 63.1 percent of the total variance with the reliability of 0.791. Conclusions:The questionnaire is valid and reliable to measure the associated factors of preventive behavior toward dengue.