Pasteur Institute of French Guiana, Cayenne, France.
UMR "Emergence des Pathologies Virales" (Université Aix-Marseille, IRD 190, INSERM 1207, EHESP), Marseille, France.
PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2018 Jan 25;12(1):e0006167. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0006167. eCollection 2018 Jan.
French Guiana is a territory that has a decades-long history of dengue outbreaks and more recently, in 2014, a chikungunya outbreak. Zika virus (ZIKV) emerged in late 2015 and subsequently led to an important outbreak.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A cross-sectional phone survey was conducted among the general population during the outbreak in June 2016 with a total of 1,129 individuals interviewed to assess perceptions, knowledge and behaviors regarding zika infection. The population seemed aware of zika, and perceived the infection as a more serious health threat than other common mosquito-borne diseases. Furthermore, both the perceptions and behaviors related to zika and its prevention were found to vary considerably among different social groups, geographic areas and gender; less educated female participants were found to perceive the disease as more worrisome and were less likely to adopt protective behaviors. Moreover, female population has been particularly responsive to awareness campaigns and rapidly understood the extent of risks associated with ZIKV infection.
CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These results revealed that ZIKV appeared at the time of the survey as a new health threat that concerns the public more than chikungunya and dengue fever with differences observed among subgroups of population. These results have implications for the development of multifaceted infection control programs, including strategies for prevention and awareness, helping the population to develop an accurate perception of the threat they are facing and encouraging behavior changes.
法属圭亚那是一个有着数十年登革热疫情历史的地区，最近在 2014 年还爆发了基孔肯雅热疫情。寨卡病毒（ZIKV）于 2015 年末出现，随后引发了一次重大疫情。
方法/主要发现：2016 年 6 月疫情期间，对普通人群进行了横断面电话调查，共采访了 1129 人，以评估他们对寨卡感染的看法、知识和行为。公众似乎已经意识到寨卡病毒的存在，并认为这种感染比其他常见的蚊媒传染病更具严重的健康威胁。此外，寨卡病毒及其预防措施的认知和行为在不同的社会群体、地理区域和性别之间存在很大差异；受教育程度较低的女性参与者认为这种疾病更令人担忧，不太可能采取保护行为。此外，女性群体对宣传活动反应特别强烈，并且迅速了解了与 ZIKV 感染相关的风险程度。
结论/意义：这些结果表明，寨卡病毒在调查时是一种新的健康威胁，比基孔肯雅热和登革热更能引起公众的关注，并且在人群的亚组中观察到了差异。这些结果对制定多方面的感染控制计划具有重要意义，包括预防和宣传策略，帮助人们对面临的威胁形成准确的认知，并鼓励行为改变。
