Affognon Hippolyte, Mburu Peter, Hassan Osama Ahmed, Kingori Sarah, Ahlm Clas, Sang Rosemary, Evander Magnus
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Bamako, Mali.
International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), Nairobi, Kenya.
PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2017 Mar 8;11(3):e0005405. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0005405. eCollection 2017 Mar.
Rift Valley fever (RVF) is an emerging mosquito-borne viral hemorrhagic fever in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, affecting humans and livestock. For spread of infectious diseases, including RVF, knowledge, attitude and practices play an important role, and the understanding of the influence of behavior is crucial to improve prevention and control efforts. The objective of the study was to assess RVF exposure, in a multiethnic region in Kenya known to experience RVF outbreaks, from the behavior perspective. We investigated how communities in Isiolo County, Kenya were affected, in relation to their knowledge, attitude and practices, by the RVF outbreak of 2006/2007. A cross-sectional study was conducted involving 698 households selected randomly from three different ethnic communities. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire regarding knowledge, attitudes and practices that could affect the spread of RVF. In addition, information was collected from the communities regarding the number of humans and livestock affected during the RVF outbreak. This study found that better knowledge about a specific disease does not always translate to better practices to avoid exposure to the disease. However, the high knowledge, attitude and practice score measured as a single index of the Maasai community may explain why they were less affected, compared to other investigated communities (Borana and Turkana), by RVF during the 2006/2007 outbreak. We conclude that RVF exposure in Isiolo County, Kenya during the outbreak was likely determined by the behavioral differences of different resident community groups. We then recommend that strategies to combat RVF should take into consideration behavioral differences among communities.
裂谷热（RVF）是一种在非洲和阿拉伯半岛新出现的由蚊子传播的病毒性出血热，可感染人类和牲畜。对于包括裂谷热在内的传染病传播而言，知识、态度和行为起着重要作用，而了解行为的影响对于加强防控工作至关重要。本研究的目的是从行为角度评估肯尼亚一个已知会爆发裂谷热的多民族地区的裂谷热暴露情况。我们调查了肯尼亚伊索洛县的社区在2006/2007年裂谷热疫情期间，其知识、态度和行为受到的影响。开展了一项横断面研究，从三个不同民族社区随机选取了698户家庭。使用一份关于可能影响裂谷热传播的知识、态度和行为的结构化问卷收集数据。此外，还从社区收集了有关裂谷热疫情期间受影响的人类和牲畜数量的信息。本研究发现，对某种特定疾病有更多了解并不总能转化为更好的避免接触该疾病的行为。然而，作为马赛社区单一指标衡量的高知识、态度和行为得分，可能解释了为何在2006/2007年疫情期间，与其他被调查社区（博拉纳和图尔卡纳）相比，他们受裂谷热的影响较小。我们得出结论，肯尼亚伊索洛县疫情期间的裂谷热暴露情况可能由不同居民社区群体的行为差异决定。我们进而建议，抗击裂谷热的策略应考虑到社区之间的行为差异。
