Assessment of knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward rabies among visitors of a family health center

Abstract

Background Rabies is a highly contagious but still an undervalued zoonotic disease. The disease affects almost all mammals, and infected species will always die owing to the disease once the associated clinical signs appear. Dog-mediated rabies is responsible for 99% of rabies transmission to humans, and as a result, it leads to rabies-related human deaths, despite the fact that canine rabies vaccination is extremely effective and provides protection. Rabies control, prevention, and management necessitates adequate information about community knowledge, attitudes, and practices linked to rabies disease. Aim To assess knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward rabies among visitors of a family health center. Patients and methods A descriptive research design was used. Setting The study was conducted at Abu Al-Saud Family Health Center, Masr El-Kadema medical health sector, Cairo. Sample A convenience sample of 240 visitors of Abu Al-Saud Family Health Center was included. Tools A rabies KAP questionnaire was prepared by the investigators for visitors of the family health center. It consists of 47 questions, including the following four parts: part A, demographic characteristics; part B, knowledge of participants about rabies disease; part C, the three-point Likert scale for attitudes; and part D, assessment of participants’ practices after dog bites. Results The current study revealed that all participants were living in urban area and 66.3% of the study participants did not know what rabies is. Regarding participants’ attitudes, 82.9% of the study participants agreed that stray dogs were considered a problem in the Egyptian society. Concerning participants’ practice, 79.6% of them went to the nearest health facilities to receive health care as a first aid for the wounds caused by a dog or any other animal bite. Conclusion Overall, 98.3% of the study participants had poor knowledge about rabies, 84.6% of them had a negative attitude toward rabies, and 100%of them had unacceptable level of practice regarding dog bites. Recommendation Education health programs should be conducted about rabies disease to improve people’s knowledge, attitude, and practice toward rabies. Further research studies should be performed on a larger sample in different community settings across the country with the intention to generalize the results.