Background:
Swine influenza outbreaks are common in
pigs year-round and
infection in
humans is a result of close contact with infected
animals.
Understanding the
perception of the public and their potential
resources would help
public health agencies in developing educational programs to increase the
awareness of the public. The objective of this study was to assess the
knowledge,
attitude and practices on different aspects of
swine flu.
Methods:
A
cross-sectional study of 100
pregnant women was conducted at Varun Arjun Medical College, Banthara, Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh,
India to test their
knowledge,
attitudes, and use of precautionary
measures against
influenza infection.
Results:
In this study, 98 (98%) of
pregnant women were aware of
swine flu
infection, 85 (85%) of
pregnant women knew that
swine flu is due to
viral infection while 65 (65%) of
pregnant women were aware that
swine flu
infection spreads through
air while
sneezing and coughing. In this study, 95 (96%) of
pregnant women knew
fever as symptom of
swine flu, 83 (83%) of
pregnant women knew
cough and
cold as symptoms while 64 (64%) of
pregnant women knew
headache and body
ache as symptoms. 94 (94%) of
pregnant women were aware that
vaccination against
swine flu can prevent
swine flu
infection. 80 (80%) of
pregnant women knew that covering
mouth and
nose while coughing and
sneezing can prevent spread of
swine flu
infection while 52 (52%) of
pregnant women knew that frequent
hand washing helps in preventing spread of
swine flu
infection. 76 (76%) of
pregnant women received
vaccination against
swine flu while 24 (24%) of
pregnant women did not receive
vaccination against
swine flu.
Conclusions:
Learning more about the
knowledge,
attitudes, and
behaviors of the public during
swine flu and other
infectious disease outbreak can be crucial to improve efforts by
public health officials and clinicians.