Cargando…

Perceptions and practices of mosquito-borne diseases in Alabama – is concern where it should be?

BACKGROUND: The Gulf Coast of the United States is home to mosquito vectors that may spread disease causing pathogens, and environmental conditions that are ideal for the sustained transmission of mosquito-borne pathogens. Understanding public perceptions of mosquito-borne diseases and mosquito prev...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Morse, Wayde, Izenour, Katie, McKenzie, Benjamin, Lessard, Sarah, Zohdy, Sarah
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6652104/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31337359
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7308-x
_version_ 1783438499568943104
author Morse, Wayde
Izenour, Katie
McKenzie, Benjamin
Lessard, Sarah
Zohdy, Sarah
author_facet Morse, Wayde
Izenour, Katie
McKenzie, Benjamin
Lessard, Sarah
Zohdy, Sarah
author_sort Morse, Wayde
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The Gulf Coast of the United States is home to mosquito vectors that may spread disease causing pathogens, and environmental conditions that are ideal for the sustained transmission of mosquito-borne pathogens. Understanding public perceptions of mosquito-borne diseases and mosquito prevention strategies is critical for the development of effective vector control strategies and public health interventions. Here, we present a survey conducted in Mobile, Alabama along the Gulf Coast to better understand public perceptions of mosquito-borne diseases, mosquito control activities, and potential risk factors. METHODS: Using Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice (KAPs) assessments, we surveyed populations living in 12 zip codes in Mobile, Alabama using a 7-point Likert scale and frequency assessments. Survey participants were asked about vector control efforts, knowledge of mosquito-borne diseases, and understanding of mosquito ecology and breeding habitats. RESULTS: One hundred twenty-six surveys were completed in Mobile, Alabama, revealing that 73% of participants reported being bitten by a mosquito in the last 30 days and mosquitoes were frequently seen in their homes. Ninety-four percent of respondents had heard of Zika Virus at the time of the survey, and respondents reported being least familiar with dengue virus and chikungunya virus. CONCLUSIONS: Chikungunya virus, dengue virus, malaria, West Nile virus, and Zika virus have been documented in the Gulf Coast of the United States. The mosquitoes which vector all of these diseases are presently in the Gulf Coast meaning all five diseases pose a potential risk to human health. The results of this survey emphasize knowledge gaps that public health officials can address to empower the population to reduce their risk of these mosquito-borne diseases. Each species of mosquito has specific preferences for breeding and feeding and there is no one size fits all prevention approach, educating people on the need for a variety of approaches in order to address all species will further empower them to control mosquitoes where they live and further reduce their risk of disease. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-019-7308-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-6652104
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2019
publisher BioMed Central
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-66521042019-07-31 Perceptions and practices of mosquito-borne diseases in Alabama – is concern where it should be? Morse, Wayde Izenour, Katie McKenzie, Benjamin Lessard, Sarah Zohdy, Sarah BMC Public Health Research Article BACKGROUND: The Gulf Coast of the United States is home to mosquito vectors that may spread disease causing pathogens, and environmental conditions that are ideal for the sustained transmission of mosquito-borne pathogens. Understanding public perceptions of mosquito-borne diseases and mosquito prevention strategies is critical for the development of effective vector control strategies and public health interventions. Here, we present a survey conducted in Mobile, Alabama along the Gulf Coast to better understand public perceptions of mosquito-borne diseases, mosquito control activities, and potential risk factors. METHODS: Using Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice (KAPs) assessments, we surveyed populations living in 12 zip codes in Mobile, Alabama using a 7-point Likert scale and frequency assessments. Survey participants were asked about vector control efforts, knowledge of mosquito-borne diseases, and understanding of mosquito ecology and breeding habitats. RESULTS: One hundred twenty-six surveys were completed in Mobile, Alabama, revealing that 73% of participants reported being bitten by a mosquito in the last 30 days and mosquitoes were frequently seen in their homes. Ninety-four percent of respondents had heard of Zika Virus at the time of the survey, and respondents reported being least familiar with dengue virus and chikungunya virus. CONCLUSIONS: Chikungunya virus, dengue virus, malaria, West Nile virus, and Zika virus have been documented in the Gulf Coast of the United States. The mosquitoes which vector all of these diseases are presently in the Gulf Coast meaning all five diseases pose a potential risk to human health. The results of this survey emphasize knowledge gaps that public health officials can address to empower the population to reduce their risk of these mosquito-borne diseases. Each species of mosquito has specific preferences for breeding and feeding and there is no one size fits all prevention approach, educating people on the need for a variety of approaches in order to address all species will further empower them to control mosquitoes where they live and further reduce their risk of disease. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-019-7308-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. BioMed Central 2019-07-23 /pmc/articles/PMC6652104/ /pubmed/31337359 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7308-x Text en © The Author(s). 2019 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research Article
Morse, Wayde
Izenour, Katie
McKenzie, Benjamin
Lessard, Sarah
Zohdy, Sarah
Perceptions and practices of mosquito-borne diseases in Alabama – is concern where it should be?
title Perceptions and practices of mosquito-borne diseases in Alabama – is concern where it should be?
title_full Perceptions and practices of mosquito-borne diseases in Alabama – is concern where it should be?
title_fullStr Perceptions and practices of mosquito-borne diseases in Alabama – is concern where it should be?
title_full_unstemmed Perceptions and practices of mosquito-borne diseases in Alabama – is concern where it should be?
title_short Perceptions and practices of mosquito-borne diseases in Alabama – is concern where it should be?
title_sort perceptions and practices of mosquito-borne diseases in alabama – is concern where it should be?
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6652104/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31337359
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7308-x
work_keys_str_mv AT morsewayde perceptionsandpracticesofmosquitobornediseasesinalabamaisconcernwhereitshouldbe
AT izenourkatie perceptionsandpracticesofmosquitobornediseasesinalabamaisconcernwhereitshouldbe
AT mckenziebenjamin perceptionsandpracticesofmosquitobornediseasesinalabamaisconcernwhereitshouldbe
AT lessardsarah perceptionsandpracticesofmosquitobornediseasesinalabamaisconcernwhereitshouldbe
AT zohdysarah perceptionsandpracticesofmosquitobornediseasesinalabamaisconcernwhereitshouldbe