Investigation on knowledge,attitude,and practice of schistosomiasis pre-vention and control and infection status in Armed Police Forces stationed along Yangtze River / 中国血吸虫病防治杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To understand the status of knowledge,attitude,and practice of schistosomiasis prevention and con-trol and infection status in Armed Police Forces stationed along the Yangtze River,so as to provide the reference for formulating the schistosomiasis prevention and control measures in Armed Police Forces. Methods A questionnaire survey was conducted in the Armed Police Forces along the Yangtze River in Jiangsu Province,and the investigation content included social demo-graphic data,schistosomiasis prevention knowledge,attitude and behavior. All the subjects were examined for Schistosoma ja-ponicum infection. Results Totally 376 soldiers were investigated in 2 sites. The total passing rate of schistosomiasis knowl-edge was 72.87%. The passing rate among different age groups had no significant difference( χ2 =0.26,P > 0.05). The passing rate of soldiers from endemic areas was significantly higher than that of the soldiers from non-endemic areas( χ2 =4.71,P <0.05). The passing rate of officers was significantly higher than that of the soldiers(χ2 = 4.21,P <0.05). The passing rate of sol-diers with the education levels of junior school,high school,college,undergraduate and above increased gradually,with a sig-nificant difference( χ2 =8.16,P < 0.05). The soldiers with positive attitude accounted for 93.88%. Among the water contact be-haviors,training accounted for 17.55% and participating in the task(such as flood fighting and water work)accounted for 86.44%. When launching,the rate of taking protective measures was 52.93%. The rate of taking protective measures in the knowledge passing group was much higher than that in the knowledge failed group( χ2 =10.55,P < 0.05). The stool was harm-lessly treated in the two camps. Among 376 soldiers,the positive rate of blood examinations was 0.53%,but the stool examina-tions were all negative. Conclusions The overall level of knowledge and correct behavior of schistosomiasis prevention in the Armed Police Forces along the Yangtze River still should be improved. The better health education and behavior intervention are crucial to schistosomiasis prevention in the army.