Medicos: knowledge and attitude on Nipah at Malappuram district, India

Abstract

Background: A recent epidemic of Nipah virus affected few districts of Malabar in Kerala, Southern India. Eighteen people died, remarking case fatality rate of 94.7%. Early diagnosis within second case by doctors and prompt control activities by the health ministry saved more lives. Objective was to study knowledge and attitude about Nipah among medical students of Malappuram District.Methods: The study was conducted among 200 MBBS students of tertiary medical college at Malappuram district, North Kerala. A pre structured questionnaire was used to study on knowledge and attitude related to Nipah among medical. Then the data was collected, analyzed and entered into Excel. The frequency of awareness among medical students was expressed in proportions.Results: Majority had good attitude and half of them had good knowledge about the disease. Most of students have been aware about the virus by social media (40.5%) as major source of information followed by news/newspaper (34%), (17.5 %) internet and (8%) by awareness programs.Conclusions: Topic about Nipah virus disease should be inculcated in medical textbooks elaborately. Special training programs for medical students should be on focus and health education sessions should be enhanced.

Knowledge and attitude about Nipah virus infection among medical students, Mysuru, India

“…In the present study more than half of the students were aware about the clinical features and complications of Nipah virus infection which was similar to a study conducted by Kanniyan et al among medical students in a medical college of Kerala. 3 A study done on the awareness regarding Ebola virus by Aliya et al, shows that about 63% of the students were aware about the mode of transmission, 50.6% of the students knew that Ebola virus disease can be diagnosed via ELISA. 53.2% of the students correctly identified that no treatment is available for Ebola virus disease as yet.…”

“…The spread of the virus is very rapid and fatal, with a case fatality of 40-70%. 3 The transmission of NiV virus occurs from infected pigs to human (Malaysian NiV outbreak), infected bats to human (consumption of raw date palm sap contaminated with infectious bat excretions) and also human to human transmission (seen in the family and care givers of Nipah virus infected person). 4 There is no proven effective treatment at present and primary treatment is intensive supportive care.…”

Are the medical interns ready to deal with the treatment, prevention and control of Nipah virus infection at the tertiary care hospital?

“…A similar study conducted by Kanniyan et al among medical students in a medical college of Kerala found that half of the students (51%) had good knowledge about Nipah. [5] In the wake of the outbreak, a better knowledge score was expected from the medical interns as Indian medical graduates should be lifelong learners.…”

“…In the above-mentioned study, the authors found that majority (70%) of the medical students had good attitude towards Nipah virus disease. [5]…”

“…Consumption of contaminated date palm sap had led to the outbreak of the Nipah virus. [345] A recent outbreak evidenced in Kerala, India, prompted the epidemiological investigations and further dissemination of information regarding the disease to the health care providers as well as general public. [6] The main strategy involved in prevention of spread of Nipah is its containment to an affected area.…”