Assessment of the knowledge and awareness of toxoplasmosis among doctors and nurses in Casablanca, Morocco: a cross-sectional study.

INTRODUCTION

toxoplasmosis is a zoonotic infectious disease caused by Toxoplasma gondii. Medical health professional specially doctors and nurses must have the best skills, knowledge and practices regarding toxoplasmosis to improve maternal and newborn health effectiveness. The aim of this current survey was to assess the knowledge of toxoplasmosis among doctors and nurses, working in selected health facilities of different parts of Casablanca prefecture in Morocco.

METHODS

a cross-sectional study was conducted. The data were collected from consenting doctors and nurses through a self-administered structured questionnaire. The questionnaire included the sociodemographic and knowledge regarding the general information, diagnosis, clinical and prevention of toxoplasmosis. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and association between variables explored with Chi-square test at P < 0.05.

RESULTS

one hundred and twenty-six health professionals participated in the study with mean age was 40.50 ±10.06 years. Of these, 83.3% were females while 16.7% were male. Fifty two (41.3%) of the respondents were doctors while 74 (58.7%) of the respondents were nurses. More than half of respondents (57.1%) had a moderate knowledge score about toxoplasmosis with doctors had better knowledge of toxoplasmosis than did nurses. Nineteen-five percent (95%) of respondents were aware of the definition of toxoplasmosis and more than 80% knew about the risk factors of this zoonosis. The majority of doctors and nurses (more than 90%) recognized the measures to follow to avoid the transmission of toxoplasmosis for pregnant women such as no contact with cats, eating cooked meat, washing their hands often and washing fruits and vegetable products before eating. However, the most of respondents were unaware of avidity test (91.7%).

CONCLUSION

we concluded that the knowledge about various aspects of toxoplasmosis was average among medical health professionals in Casablanca. Therefore, educational intervention for nurses and doctors contributed to improving knowledge about the disease to reduce exposure the pregnant women to some risk factors of disease during pregnancy.