Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt.
Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt.
Infect Disord Drug Targets. 2025;25(1):e230524230270. doi: 10.2174/0118715265289905240503060341.
Rabies is a fatal infectious viral disease that affects all warm-blooded mammals, including humans. Rabid dogs are commonly found in Egypt.
By assessing the knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards Rabies in Gharbia Governorate, Egypt, this KAP study aimed to improve knowledge of the populations dealing with infected wounds and rabid animals. It also aimed to generate baseline data that would be a reference for evaluating community awareness and aid in developing and administering appropriate rabies prevention strategies.
This is a cross-sectional study that was carried out from June 2020 to October 2022 to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of six different towns and villages from the El Gharbia government, Egypt, regarding rabies. A self-administered closed-ended questionnaire was used to collect the data from 326 participants by convenient sampling. The data were analyzed by SPSS statistical software version 21 using descriptive analysis and the Chi-square test.
Most of the respondents (73.6%) had heard about rabies mainly from mixed sources (formal and informal sources). The bite was considered to be the only mode of transmission of rabies by 49.4% of respondents, and only 10.7% and 14.4% of respondents answered that it could be transmitted by scratching and saliva contact, respectively. Nearly half of the participants (52.1%) believed that biting and sudden changes in behavior are the clinical signs and symptoms of rabies in humans. Most of the participants (70.9 %) knew that rabies could be prevented by vaccination, but (57.1%) of them did not know about the almost 100% fatal nature of rabies once the clinical signs developed. Residency, educational status, and age were found to be significantly associated with KAP of rabies (P<0.05).
There is a need for educational campaigns and mass media programs in the El Gharbia government, Egypt to increase the awareness of the community about rabies.
狂犬病是一种致命的传染性病毒疾病，影响所有温血动物，包括人类。在埃及，狂犬病犬较为常见。
通过评估埃及盖尔比亚省的狂犬病知识、态度和实践，本项 KAP 研究旨在提高接触感染性伤口和狂犬病动物人群的知识水平。它还旨在生成基线数据，作为评估社区意识的参考，并有助于制定和实施适当的狂犬病预防策略。
这是一项横断面研究，于 2020 年 6 月至 2022 年 10 月在埃及盖尔比亚省的六个不同城镇和村庄进行，以评估对狂犬病的知识、态度和实践。通过方便抽样，使用自填式封闭式问卷收集了 326 名参与者的数据。使用 SPSS 统计软件版本 21 对数据进行分析，采用描述性分析和卡方检验。
大多数受访者（73.6%）主要通过混合来源（正式和非正式来源）听说过狂犬病。49.4%的受访者认为咬伤是狂犬病唯一的传播途径，只有 10.7%和 14.4%的受访者分别回答抓伤和唾液接触也可能传播狂犬病。近一半的参与者（52.1%）认为咬人及行为突然改变是狂犬病的临床症状和体征。大多数参与者（70.9%）知道狂犬病可以通过接种疫苗预防，但（57.1%）的人不知道一旦出现临床症状，狂犬病几乎 100%致命。居住地、教育程度和年龄与狂犬病的 KAP 显著相关（P<0.05）。
埃及盖尔比亚省政府需要开展教育运动和大众媒体宣传活动，提高社区对狂犬病的认识。
