Department of Physiology, Catholic University of Health and Allied Sciences, Mwanza, Tanzania.
Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmacy Practice, Catholic University of Health and Allied Sciences, Mwanza, Tanzania.
PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2023 Sep 6;17(9):e0011580. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0011580. eCollection 2023 Sep.
Rabies is a fatal zoonotic disease of significant public health importance. Domestic dogs are the main reservoir and transmitter of this disease, particularly in developing countries. Community awareness about rabies is one of the key components of prevention. This study describes the knowledge, attitudes, and practices about rabies disease among dog owners at Kahama town council, Shinyanga Region, Tanzania.
This was a cross sectional community-based study which was done in May 2021. Structured questionnaires were administered to collect the data among 422 dog owners. The information collected included demographic characteristics of the dog owners, as well as their knowledge, attitude and practice towards rabies. Data were analyzed using SPSS statistical software version 20.
Out of 422 respondents, 421 (99.76%) knew that rabies can be transmitted by dogs, 384 (91%) knew that rabies can be prevented by vaccination of dogs, 269 (63.74%) knew the symptoms and signs, and 379 (89.81%) believed that it was necessary to vaccinate all owned dogs, but 227 (53.79%) had not vaccinated their dogs. Education level (p = 0.006) and occupation (p = 0.002) were significantly associated with a positive attitude, whereby those with a higher level of education and farmers were more likely to have a positive attitude. Also there was statistically significant association between gender (p = 0.038), marital status (p < 0.001) occupation (p < 0.001), education level (p = 0.006) and the practices of the respondents in the community whereby majority of male, unmarried dog owner who are farmer with primary education level had lower practice score.
This study concludes that respondents had good knowledge, a relatively good attitude, and poor practice towards rabies prevention and control. Rabies awareness with an emphasis on the importance of vaccination as well as vaccination campaigns should, therefore, be intensified, especially among the least educated dog owners.
狂犬病是一种具有重大公共卫生意义的致命人畜共患病。家犬是这种疾病的主要储存宿主和传播者，特别是在发展中国家。社区对狂犬病的认识是预防的关键组成部分之一。本研究描述了坦桑尼亚希尼安加地区卡哈马镇议会的犬主对狂犬病的知识、态度和实践。
这是一项 2021 年 5 月进行的基于社区的横断面研究。对 422 名犬主进行了问卷调查，以收集数据。收集的信息包括犬主的人口统计学特征，以及他们对狂犬病的知识、态度和实践。数据使用 SPSS 统计软件版本 20 进行分析。
在 422 名受访者中，421 名（99.76%）知道狂犬病可以通过狗传播，384 名（91%）知道狂犬病可以通过给狗接种疫苗预防，269 名（63.74%）知道症状和体征，379 名（89.81%）认为有必要给所有自己的狗接种疫苗，但 227 名（53.79%）没有给他们的狗接种疫苗。教育程度（p=0.006）和职业（p=0.002）与积极的态度显著相关，即教育程度较高和农民更有可能持积极的态度。此外，性别（p=0.038）、婚姻状况（p<0.001）、职业（p<0.001）、教育程度（p=0.006）与受访者在社区中的实践之间存在统计学上的显著关联，其中大多数男性、未婚犬主，以及教育程度为小学的农民，实践得分较低。
本研究表明，受访者对狂犬病的预防和控制有良好的知识、相对较好的态度和较差的实践。因此，应加强狂犬病意识，强调接种的重要性以及接种运动，特别是在受教育程度最低的犬主中。
