DENGUE FEVER;

ASSESSMENT OF KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICES OF COMMUNITY MEDICINE OF AZIZ BHATTI TOWN LAHORE DURING RECENT EPIDEMIC

Abstract

Dengue infection is one of the most common mosquito borne viral diseases of public health significance. It has been identified
as a clinical entity since 1780. Dengue is caused by viruses that are small enveloped viruses and are members of the family Flaviviridae genus
Flavivirus. It is a vector borne disease and is a global health threat. In Pakistan first epidemic was reported in 1994 and since then cases are
reported every years. This year dengue infection raised the number of patients and increased the deaths. Objectives: To assess the
knowledge, attitude and practices of the people regarding Dengue fever. Study Design: Cross Sectional Study. Setting: Aziz Bhatti Town,
Lahore. Duration of Study: One Month. Material and methods: Convenient sampling. The investigator himself collected the information from
the sample under study. First of all, an informed consent was obtained from the respondent under study and secrecy of the information was
ensured. Data was entered and cleaned using Epi Data version 3. Data was analyzed using Epi info version 3.5.1. Results: Out of 41
respondent families only 2.4% did not hear about dengue fever while 97.6% respondents were well aware of the dengue fever. 80.5% were
aware of high grade fever in dengue fever, 73.2% were aware of associated body aches. 92.7% were aware that dengue fever is preventable.
95.1% were using mats, coils & repellents while 2.4% were using smoke of wet wood.36.6% were covering the water containers. 75.6% were
keeping environment dry and clean.68.3% were having opinion that they will consult GP in case of illness.85.4% told that TV/Radio were the
source of above mentioned knowledge while 9.8% doctor and 4.9% got information through newspapers. only 4.9% respondents were having
opinion that government had sprayed for dengue fever.7.3% families experienced the patient of dengue fever in their family. Conclusions: In
this study the results are the almost same with little variations as found in other studies. The knowledge, attitude and practice are the almost
same in every studies with little variation. Majority of the families were well aware of dengue fever.