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Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Animal Bite Victims Attending an Anti-rabies Health Center in Jimma Town, Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Rabies is an important but preventable cause of death in Ethiopia. We assessed the knowledge, attitudes and practices of animal bite victims attending an anti-rabies health center in Jimma Town, Ethiopia. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Between July 2012 and March 2013 a cross-sectional...

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Autores principales: Kabeta, Tadele, Deresa, Benti, Tigre, Worku, Ward, Michael P., Mor, Siobhan M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4482645/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26114573
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0003867
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author Kabeta, Tadele
Deresa, Benti
Tigre, Worku
Ward, Michael P.
Mor, Siobhan M.
author_facet Kabeta, Tadele
Deresa, Benti
Tigre, Worku
Ward, Michael P.
Mor, Siobhan M.
author_sort Kabeta, Tadele
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Rabies is an important but preventable cause of death in Ethiopia. We assessed the knowledge, attitudes and practices of animal bite victims attending an anti-rabies health center in Jimma Town, Ethiopia. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Between July 2012 and March 2013 a cross-sectional questionnaire was administered to 384 bite victims or their guardians in the case of minors (aged <15 years). Factors associated with knowledge, attitudes and practices were evaluated using generalized linear models. Almost all participants (99%) were aware that rabies was transmitted by the bite or lick of a rabid dog, however only 20.1% identified “germs” as the cause of disease. A majority of participants stated rabies could be prevented by avoiding dog bites (64.6%) and confining dogs (53.9%); fewer (41.7%) recognized vaccination of dogs/cats as an important preventive strategy. Regarding attitudes, most (91.1%) agreed that medical evaluation should be sought as soon as possible. However, most (75.0%) also believed that traditional healers could cure rabies. Rural residence (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 2.1, p = 0.015) and Protestant religion (OR = 2.4, p = 0.041) were independently associated with this belief. Among 186 participants who owned dogs, only 9 (4.8%) had ever vaccinated their dog and more than 90% of respondents indicated that their dog was free-roaming or cohabitated with the family. Only 7.0% of participants applied correct first aid following exposure, and the majority (47.7%) reported that the animal was killed by the community following the incident. Female sex and Muslim religion were independently associated with higher and lower practices scores, respectively, due largely to differences in animal management practices following the incident. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Although respondents demonstrated reasonably sound knowledge of rabies and its transmission, attitudes and practices were inconsistent with rabies prevention. Culturally- and gender-sensitive activities that promote proper first aid and healthcare seeking behavior as well as appropriate animal management, particularly in rural areas, are needed to prevent deaths associated with rabies in this setting.
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spelling pubmed-44826452015-06-29 Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Animal Bite Victims Attending an Anti-rabies Health Center in Jimma Town, Ethiopia Kabeta, Tadele Deresa, Benti Tigre, Worku Ward, Michael P. Mor, Siobhan M. PLoS Negl Trop Dis Research Article BACKGROUND: Rabies is an important but preventable cause of death in Ethiopia. We assessed the knowledge, attitudes and practices of animal bite victims attending an anti-rabies health center in Jimma Town, Ethiopia. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Between July 2012 and March 2013 a cross-sectional questionnaire was administered to 384 bite victims or their guardians in the case of minors (aged <15 years). Factors associated with knowledge, attitudes and practices were evaluated using generalized linear models. Almost all participants (99%) were aware that rabies was transmitted by the bite or lick of a rabid dog, however only 20.1% identified “germs” as the cause of disease. A majority of participants stated rabies could be prevented by avoiding dog bites (64.6%) and confining dogs (53.9%); fewer (41.7%) recognized vaccination of dogs/cats as an important preventive strategy. Regarding attitudes, most (91.1%) agreed that medical evaluation should be sought as soon as possible. However, most (75.0%) also believed that traditional healers could cure rabies. Rural residence (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 2.1, p = 0.015) and Protestant religion (OR = 2.4, p = 0.041) were independently associated with this belief. Among 186 participants who owned dogs, only 9 (4.8%) had ever vaccinated their dog and more than 90% of respondents indicated that their dog was free-roaming or cohabitated with the family. Only 7.0% of participants applied correct first aid following exposure, and the majority (47.7%) reported that the animal was killed by the community following the incident. Female sex and Muslim religion were independently associated with higher and lower practices scores, respectively, due largely to differences in animal management practices following the incident. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Although respondents demonstrated reasonably sound knowledge of rabies and its transmission, attitudes and practices were inconsistent with rabies prevention. Culturally- and gender-sensitive activities that promote proper first aid and healthcare seeking behavior as well as appropriate animal management, particularly in rural areas, are needed to prevent deaths associated with rabies in this setting. Public Library of Science 2015-06-26 /pmc/articles/PMC4482645/ /pubmed/26114573 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0003867 Text en © 2015 Kabeta et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Kabeta, Tadele
Deresa, Benti
Tigre, Worku
Ward, Michael P.
Mor, Siobhan M.
Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Animal Bite Victims Attending an Anti-rabies Health Center in Jimma Town, Ethiopia
title Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Animal Bite Victims Attending an Anti-rabies Health Center in Jimma Town, Ethiopia
title_full Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Animal Bite Victims Attending an Anti-rabies Health Center in Jimma Town, Ethiopia
title_fullStr Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Animal Bite Victims Attending an Anti-rabies Health Center in Jimma Town, Ethiopia
title_full_unstemmed Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Animal Bite Victims Attending an Anti-rabies Health Center in Jimma Town, Ethiopia
title_short Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Animal Bite Victims Attending an Anti-rabies Health Center in Jimma Town, Ethiopia
title_sort knowledge, attitudes and practices of animal bite victims attending an anti-rabies health center in jimma town, ethiopia
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4482645/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26114573
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0003867
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