Investigation on public knowledge, attitude and practices related to pet management and zoonotic canine diseases in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

Many infectious diseases are transmitted from animals to human and the other way. Despite this there is limited information about public knowledge on pet husbandry and diseases control practices in Addis Ababa. The objectives of this study are to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices towards pet husbandry, contact-related attitude and zoonotic diseases among dog-owning households in Addis Ababa. A cross-sectional questionnaire based study was conducted to assess the public's perception. A total of 252 dog-owning households from four sub-cities of Addis Ababa were interviewed using structured questionnaire. Of the total 252 respondents, majority of them (70.2%) did not take their dog to veterinary service on regular basis (at least once a year). Over half of the respondents (59.1%) fed raw meat to their dogs and 79.3% of the owners obtained the meat from local unlicensed markets. The majority of the respondents (87%) in the current study believed the risk of acquiring zoonotic diseases from dogs. However, most of them (95.4%) knew only rabies and only 4.6% of them knew parasitic diseases in addition to rabies. Only 61.9% of the respondents reported having ever received information about pet-associated diseases or precautions to reduce the risk of these diseases. Out of those who received information, 48% of them obtained from their friends and/or relatives. Only 9% and 9.6% of them received information from veterinarians and health workers, respectively. The result suggests a need for awareness creation on proper pet management and zoonotic diseases prevention practices for pet-owning households, with concerted efforts by veterinary, human and public health professionals.

Instilling Good Knowledge, Attitude and Practices among the Indigenous People of Malaysia Concerning Dog Associated Zoonotic Infections

“…A classroombased lesson on rabies among primary school children in Malawi also showed an increased in the knowledge of the children on rabies and how to be safe around dogs [34]. Increasing the knowledge of zoonotic infections is important and can reduce dog associated zoonotic infections exponentially [14] but low educational levels, poor access to information, distance of health facilities [35], poverty, lack of treated water and proper faecal disposal in the Orang Asli communities [21] add to the disinterest concerning dog associated illnesses and are impediments to a successful prevention programme [36]. In India, most of the fatalities related to rabies occured due to ignorance and lack of accessibility to affordable services [36].…”

“…Some authors have attributed poor knowledge to medical, allied health professionals and veterinarians who do not discuss dog associated diseases with the public [11,13,[35][36][37][38][39].…”

“…Although the finding of the present study showed improvement in the knowledge of the villagers post intervention but it is still lower than studies conducted among dog owners in high prevalent rabies locations like Ethiopia, Nigeria and India. But even in these countries, in most cases this information is restricted to rabies, the knowledge concerning parasitic infections and their modes of transmission is, however, limited [18,35,36,40,41]. This is not surprising considering people are generally more concerned about illnesses which receive more media attention, for example because human hydatid cyst is common in Tibet hence the awareness of cystic echinococcosis is fairly high in communities there [23].…”

“…In general, studies conducted in Philippines [33], China [23], Nigeria [40], Canada [39] and Australia [13] showed good attitudes towards dog associated infections. In Nigeria people felt that children should not play with unknown dogs and that they would wash wound after a dog bite with soap and water [35,40].…”

“…Discarding old beliefs is difficult and will take time. In Nigeria people believed that rabies can be transmitted by air and that it can be treated with traditional medicines [35]. In India wound management of dog bites included oils, turmeric powder and red chillies [45] and although a big majority would consult a doctor for dog bites but substantial number of people preferred using herbal medicines [36].…”