Rabies: Knowledge and Practices Regarding Rabies in Rural Communities of the Brazilian Amazon Basin

BACKGROUND: The occurrence of outbreaks of human rabies transmitted by Desmodus rotundus in Brazil in 2004 and 2005 reinforced the need for further research into this zoonosis. Studies of knowledge and practices related to the disease will help to define strategies for the avoidance of new cases, th...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: da Costa, Lanna Jamile Corrêa, Fernandes, Marcus Emanuel Barroncas
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4771201/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26927503
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0004474
_version_ 1782418383287877632
author da Costa, Lanna Jamile Corrêa
Fernandes, Marcus Emanuel Barroncas
author_facet da Costa, Lanna Jamile Corrêa
Fernandes, Marcus Emanuel Barroncas
author_sort da Costa, Lanna Jamile Corrêa
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The occurrence of outbreaks of human rabies transmitted by Desmodus rotundus in Brazil in 2004 and 2005 reinforced the need for further research into this zoonosis. Studies of knowledge and practices related to the disease will help to define strategies for the avoidance of new cases, through the identification of gaps that may affect the preventive practices. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A semi-structured questionnaire was applied to 681 residents of twelve communities of northeastern Pará state involved in the 2004 and 2005 outbreaks mentioned above. The objective was to evaluate the local knowledge and practices related to the disease. We found a highly significant difference (p<0.0001) in the knowledge of rabies among education levels, indicating that education is a primary determinant of knowledge on this disease. More than half of the respondents (63%) recognized the seriousness of the zoonosis, and 50% were aware of the importance of bats for its transmission, although few individuals (11%) were familiar with the symptoms, and only 40% knew methods of prevention. Even so, 70% of pet owners maintained their animals vaccinated, and 52% of the respondents bitten by bats had received post-exposure vaccination. Most of the respondents (57%) reported being familiarized with rabies through informal discussions, and only a few (23%) mentioned public health agents as the source of their information. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: We identified many gaps in the knowledge and practices of the respondents regarding rabies. This may be the result of the reduced participation of public health agents in the transfer of details about the disease. The lack of knowledge may be a direct determinant in the occurrence of new outbreaks. Given these findings, there is a clear need for specific educational initiatives involving the local population and the public health entities, with the primary aim of contributing to the prevention of rabies.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4771201
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2016
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-47712012016-03-07 Rabies: Knowledge and Practices Regarding Rabies in Rural Communities of the Brazilian Amazon Basin da Costa, Lanna Jamile Corrêa Fernandes, Marcus Emanuel Barroncas PLoS Negl Trop Dis Research Article BACKGROUND: The occurrence of outbreaks of human rabies transmitted by Desmodus rotundus in Brazil in 2004 and 2005 reinforced the need for further research into this zoonosis. Studies of knowledge and practices related to the disease will help to define strategies for the avoidance of new cases, through the identification of gaps that may affect the preventive practices. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A semi-structured questionnaire was applied to 681 residents of twelve communities of northeastern Pará state involved in the 2004 and 2005 outbreaks mentioned above. The objective was to evaluate the local knowledge and practices related to the disease. We found a highly significant difference (p<0.0001) in the knowledge of rabies among education levels, indicating that education is a primary determinant of knowledge on this disease. More than half of the respondents (63%) recognized the seriousness of the zoonosis, and 50% were aware of the importance of bats for its transmission, although few individuals (11%) were familiar with the symptoms, and only 40% knew methods of prevention. Even so, 70% of pet owners maintained their animals vaccinated, and 52% of the respondents bitten by bats had received post-exposure vaccination. Most of the respondents (57%) reported being familiarized with rabies through informal discussions, and only a few (23%) mentioned public health agents as the source of their information. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: We identified many gaps in the knowledge and practices of the respondents regarding rabies. This may be the result of the reduced participation of public health agents in the transfer of details about the disease. The lack of knowledge may be a direct determinant in the occurrence of new outbreaks. Given these findings, there is a clear need for specific educational initiatives involving the local population and the public health entities, with the primary aim of contributing to the prevention of rabies. Public Library of Science 2016-02-29 /pmc/articles/PMC4771201/ /pubmed/26927503 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0004474 Text en © 2016 Costa, Fernandes http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
da Costa, Lanna Jamile Corrêa
Fernandes, Marcus Emanuel Barroncas
Rabies: Knowledge and Practices Regarding Rabies in Rural Communities of the Brazilian Amazon Basin
title Rabies: Knowledge and Practices Regarding Rabies in Rural Communities of the Brazilian Amazon Basin
title_full Rabies: Knowledge and Practices Regarding Rabies in Rural Communities of the Brazilian Amazon Basin
title_fullStr Rabies: Knowledge and Practices Regarding Rabies in Rural Communities of the Brazilian Amazon Basin
title_full_unstemmed Rabies: Knowledge and Practices Regarding Rabies in Rural Communities of the Brazilian Amazon Basin
title_short Rabies: Knowledge and Practices Regarding Rabies in Rural Communities of the Brazilian Amazon Basin
title_sort rabies: knowledge and practices regarding rabies in rural communities of the brazilian amazon basin
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4771201/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26927503
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0004474
work_keys_str_mv AT dacostalannajamilecorrea rabiesknowledgeandpracticesregardingrabiesinruralcommunitiesofthebrazilianamazonbasin
AT fernandesmarcusemanuelbarroncas rabiesknowledgeandpracticesregardingrabiesinruralcommunitiesofthebrazilianamazonbasin