‘Zoonoses? Not sure what that is…’ An assessment of knowledge of zoonoses among medical students in India

Abstract

This study focuses on estimating knowledge of zoonoses among medical students and recent graduates, with an aim of understanding critical gaps in medical education with respect to zoonoses. A semi-structured tool for knowledge assessment, having nine principal domains of knowledge and five domains of practice, was developed and validated. Using this tool, cross-sectional data was collected from 364 medical students and recent graduates and knowledge scores were calculated based on pre-defined guidelines. Out of the 364 respondents, only 10 defined zoonoses accurately (2.8%). Only 33.7% of the respondents in the public college (62 out of 184) and 3.3% in the private college (6 out of 180) could correctly name three common parasitic zoonoses in India. Only 5.5% of respondents (20 out of 361) were able to identify rabies as a disease transmitted by animals other than dogs. Knowledge on all emerging and new infectious diseases was poor. The average knowledge score was 64% in the public medical college and 41.4% in the private medical college. These poor scores imply that, on average, a student knows only 40-60% of what is needed to diagnose, treat and report zoonotic diseases effectively. Considering the changing landscape of infectious diseases, the current medical curriculum needs to be revised to improve understanding of existing zoonoses and also include emerging diseases.

Health Care Providers’ Knowledge and Practice Gap towards Joint Zoonotic Disease Surveillance System: Challenges and Opportunities, Gomma District, Southwest Ethiopia

“…This is similar to study conducted among medical practitioners (94.3%) in Tanzania [15] whereas it is much higher than that conducted among Indian medical interns and residents (5%) [16]. This variation may be due to study participant difference and rabies epidemiology in the studied areas.…”

Assessment of knowledge regarding rabies and its prevention among the medical students of Government Medical College Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh, India

“…14 Only 2.8% of medical students knew about rabies transmission by animals other than dogs in present study which was similar to a study done by Kakkar et al where only 5.5% of medical students correctly stated that rabies is transmitted by animals other than dogs. 15 Majority (91.8%) of medical students knew that the main mode of transmission of rabies by bites of rabid animal in current study which was near to a study conducted by Praveen et al where 97.7% of medical students knew that rabies is transmitted through bites of an animal. 11 Bhalla et al in their study observed that all the doctors were aware about animal bite as mode of transmission.…”

Establishing research priorities to improve the One Health efficacy of Australian general practitioners and veterinarians with regard to zoonoses: A modified Delphi survey

“…GPs and veterinarians are often the ‘first line’ responders when it comes to recognising, diagnosing, referring and/or treating such diseases in the face of an outbreak. Previous studies have shown that both veterinary and medical practitioners agree that cross professional collaboration can be useful in management of zoonoses [ 6 , [10] , [11] , [12] , [13] , [14] ]. However, in most countries there are no established pathways to facilitate collaboration and referral across current professional boundaries [ 6 , 15 ].…”