Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Community Towards Zoonotic Importance of <i>Toxoplasma</i> Infection in Central Afar Region, North East Ethiopia

Abstract

Abstract:Toxoplasmosis is one of the major global zoonotic diseases which have a great impact on human health with more serious outcomes in immunocompromised and pregnant women. A cross-sectional study was carried out to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of the community towards zoonotic importance of the disease in central Afar region of Northeast Ethiopia using structured questionnaire, key informants interview and focal group discussion. According to the logistic regression analysis of pregnant women's awareness on zoonotic Toxoplasma infection, literacy was found statistically significant (P<0.05) in association with awareness of the pregnant women about the disease. According to the respondents' answers on the general knowledge of toxoplasmosis, majority of these pregnant women have no knowledge or not sure about this parasitic infection. Most of the respondent pregnant women were not sure about the risk factors, symptoms, and timing of infection of toxoplasmosis. However, they routinely practice primary preventive behaviors, particularly good hygienic condition that can prevent them from Toxoplasma infection but this is due to their native knowledge and thinking that ensuring general and personal hygiene can prevent all types of infection. During the study, 24 animal health assistants were participated and almost all had knowledge on zoonotic Toxoplasma infection, transmission, treatment, control and prevention. However, all of them had never diagnosed the disease in animals. Moreover, out of the 68 medical professionals included in the study, only 23 (33.8%) had knowledge on zoonotic Toxoplasma infection which is lower than expected when compared with importance of the disease in human health particularly pregnant women and children. This study showed that there is knowledge gap about the disease and its zoonotic importance. Therefore, refreshing training to medical professionals including health extension workers, imparting health education in one health approach to the community at large and pregnant women in particular and strengthening the diagnostic facility and advising pregnant women to regularly check for toxoplasma infection is mandatory.

A Cross-Sectional Study on the Association Between Risk Factors of Toxoplasmosis and One Health Knowledge in Pakistan

“…Out of 400 participants, 240 (60%) were aware of toxoplasmosis. Similar findings have been reported in Northeast Ethiopia ( 1 ).…”

“…Toxoplasmosis is a zoonotic disease caused by the intracellular protozoan Toxoplasma gondii ( 1 ). T. gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite that naturally exists in one of three forms: (1) oocysts, which release sporozoites, are only produced in the small intestines of cats and are released into the environment through their feces; (2) tissue cysts, which release bradyzoites; and (3) tachyzoites, which are the proliferative form ( 2 ).…”

“…Type I and type III strains are prevalent in Central and South America ( 4 ). Approximately 33% of the total human population has been affected by T. gondii ( 1 ). Countries in North America, Southeast Asia, Northern Europe, and Saharan African have low prevalence rates (10% to 30%), Central and Southern Europe have moderate prevalence rates (30% to 50%), and tropical African countries and Latin America have high prevalence rates of toxoplasmosis ( 5 ).…”

Gamification, a Successful Method to Foster Leptospirosis Knowledge among University Students: A Pilot Study

“…The location of the university (considered as an urban area) can also be attributed to the higher percentage of students who had leptospirosis knowledge, as they had easy access to different media and sources from the internet. This shows that mass media are a powerful tool to disseminate health news to a community, and increasing the promotion of health campaigns through media coverage is an effective awareness strategy [46,52].…”

“…Most of the respondents obtained good scores for the knowledge on disease treatment and prevention. This is not surprising, as most people believe that maintaining personal hygiene can prevent all types of infections [52,56,57,58].…”