Palkhade Rajendra, Mishra SukhDev, Barbuddhe Sukhadeo
ICMR-National Institute of Occupational Health, Meghaninagar, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.
ICAR-National Research Centre on Meat, Chenicherla, Hyderabad, India.
Vet Med Int. 2022 Feb 24;2022:2503399. doi: 10.1155/2022/2503399. eCollection 2022.
Veterinarians experience different types of health hazards from their occupation. Studies on the prevalence and occurrence of biological health hazards in veterinary medicine in India are scant and probably underreported. Thus, we sought to assess the biological health hazards and infection control practices (ICPs) among veterinarians from the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra, India. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among veterinarians ( = 562) from Gujarat and Maharashtra states in India to identify biological health hazards and ICPs for the prevention of occupational health hazards during 2016-2017 by personally contacting them. Responses regarding a biological hazard and ICPs were recorded. Descriptive analysis was attempted, and continuous variables are presented as the mean ± SD. Categorical variables are reported as counts and percentages (%). Most of the veterinarians (49.3%) worked in the field and were continuously exposed to different types of biological health hazards, especially zoonoses, ranging from mild and self-limiting to fatal diseases (e.g., brucellosis (subclinical and clinical form) and rabies (fatal)) without common prophylactic vaccinations, such as rabies and tetanus. While inquiring medical health status of the veterinarians, only 35.8% of the total respondents underwent a routine medical health checkup within the past year, and 56.9% did not receive a routine dose of an anthelmintic for deworming. Forty-nine percent of the respondents took all necessary precautions, including wearing an apron, facemask, and gloves. In contrast, 10.2% of the respondents wore only an apron, and 8.4% of respondents did not take any precautions while performing their day-to-day work. In total, 40.2% of the respondents followed the proper method of handwashing, that is, washing hands between patient examinations. In contrast, 27.9% of the respondents washed their hands once after completing the work. The majority of the respondents (87.7%) reported an urgent need for occupational hazards and safety (OHS) training in continued veterinary education (CVE) programs. The present study demonstrates that veterinarians in the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra in India pay less attention to their own health that may increase the risk of occupation-related biological health hazards. These results suggest that safety and ICPs are not prioritized, which are serious concerns. These findings may be useful for developing policies to prevent occupationally related biological health hazards among veterinarians in India.
兽医在其职业中会面临不同类型的健康危害。关于印度兽医学中生物健康危害的患病率和发生率的研究很少，而且可能报告不足。因此，我们试图评估印度古吉拉特邦和马哈拉施特拉邦兽医中的生物健康危害及感染控制措施（ICPs）。2016 - 2017年期间，通过亲自联系印度古吉拉特邦和马哈拉施特拉邦的兽医（n = 562）进行了一项横断面调查，以确定生物健康危害及预防职业健康危害的感染控制措施。记录了有关生物危害和感染控制措施的回复。尝试进行描述性分析，连续变量以均值±标准差表示。分类变量以计数和百分比（%）报告。大多数兽医（49.3%）在野外工作，持续接触不同类型的生物健康危害，尤其是人畜共患病，从轻度和自限性疾病到致命疾病（如布鲁氏菌病（亚临床和临床形式）和狂犬病（致命）），且未接种常见的预防性疫苗，如狂犬病疫苗和破伤风疫苗。在询问兽医的医疗健康状况时，在过去一年中，仅35.8%的总受访者进行了常规医疗健康检查，56.9%的受访者未接受常规剂量的驱虫药进行驱虫。49%的受访者采取了所有必要的预防措施，包括穿围裙、戴口罩和手套。相比之下，10.2%的受访者只穿了围裙，8.4%的受访者在日常工作中未采取任何预防措施。总共有40.2%的受访者遵循了正确的洗手方法，即在检查患者之间洗手。相比之下，27.9%的受访者在完成工作后只洗手一次。大多数受访者（87.7%）报告在继续兽医教育（CVE）项目中迫切需要职业危害与安全（OHS）培训。本研究表明，印度古吉拉特邦和马哈拉施特拉邦的兽医对自身健康关注较少，这可能会增加与职业相关的生物健康危害风险。这些结果表明安全和感染控制措施未被优先考虑，这是严重问题。这些发现可能有助于制定政策以预防印度兽医中与职业相关的生物健康危害。
