Knowledge, attitudes and practices towards rabies: questionnaire survey in rural household heads of Gondar Zuria District, Ethiopia

Abstract

BackgroundRabies is a fatal animal disease of significant public health importance. Domestic dogs are the main reservoir and transmitter of this disease particularly in developing countries. Even though rabies is a highly fatal disease, it is a preventable disease. Community awareness about rabies is one of the key components for prevention. This study describes the knowledge, attitudes and practices of a rural community in Gondar Zuria District, Ethiopia.MethodsA cross sectional study was conducted from March to June, 2013. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data through face to face interviews among 400 respondents. The data were then analyzed using SPSS statistical software version 20.ResultsThe current study indicated that almost all (99.3 %) of the surveyed individuals were aware of the disease rabies. Rabies is considered to be a fatal disease in humans by 67.8 % of the respondents while 27.8 % believe that it is a treatable disease. Dogs were indicated as source of infection for humans by all respondents followed by equines (27.2 %) and cats (12.1 %). Bite was known as mode of rabies transmission by majority of the respondents (94 %) while other means were given less weight. Aggression was described as a major clinical sign of rabies in animals. Consumption of cooked or boiled meat from rabid animals was considered as safe by 67.0 % of the respondents and about 19 % replied even raw meat is safe for human consumption. The need for immediate treatment after exposure was mentioned by less than half (47.4 %) of the respondents and only 38.8 % of the respondents considered modern medicine as appropriate treatment after exposure to rabid animals. Nearly 42 % of respondents had experienced a dog bite. Following the dog bites, only 30.7 % practiced washing of the wounds with water as first aid.ConclusionRabies was found to be well known in the study area. However, knowledge and practices in prevention of rabies were limited. Education of rabies about possible sources of infection, mode of transmission and measures to be taken after exposure is very important in the study area.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13104-015-1357-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Community based cross-sectional study on knowledge, attitudes and practices towards rabies in Munesa District, Arsi Zone, Southeastern Ethiopia

“…This misperception is also in agreement with the report of several scholars from different area of Ethiopia (Digafe et al, 2015;Kabeta et al, 2015;Yalemebrat et al, 2016). This misunderstanding about the incubation period indicates that those who believe this incubation period do not seek post exposure prophylaxis once the perceived incubation period passed.…”

“…All most all (99.3%) had heard about rabies. In line with this finding several scholars from different area of Ethiopia (Digafe et al, 2015;Yalemebrat et al, 2016) and other country (Singh and Choudhary, 2005) reported a similar findings. Regarding the causative agent of rabies 32.7% of respondent were found to have misperception which was starvation and thirst.…”

“…The 49.3% finding in this study is higher compared to the study conducted in Gondar zuria district (30.7%) (Digafe et al, 2015) and in a rural Community of Gujarat, India (31.1%) (Singhand Choudhary, 2005). The variation may be due to the study area and awareness level of the community.…”

“…Similar finding was also recorded in Debark district which was 42.1% preference (Yalemebrat et al, 2016). The preference for traditional treatment recorded in this study was low when compared to study conducted in Gondar zuria district, Ethiopia, which reported 62.2% preference for traditional medicine (Digafe et al, 2015) and study in Debark district which reported 54.8 preference for traditional medicine (Yalemebrat et al, 2016). Furthermore, a higher (84%) reliance of respondents on traditional treatment was also reported from Dabat and Gondar (Jemberu et al, 2013).…”

“…The community knowledge, attitudes and practices are important both for prevention of human deaths due to rabies and for control of the disease in animals (Dhand et al, 2012). To realize this knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) studies have been widely used (Sambo et al, 2014;Serebe et al, 2014;Tiembre et al, 2014;Kabeta et al, 2015;Digafe et al, 2015;Yalemebrat et al, 2016). Even though rabies is endemic disease in Ethiopia, little is known about awareness level of the community and no information were available particular in munesa district despite, the significance of such study in evaluation of community awareness and thereby helping in planning and implementation of rabies control programs.…”