Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices concerning Black Fungus during COVID-19 Pandemic among Students of Bangladesh: An Online-Based Cross-Sectional Survey

Abstract

Background: Infection with COVID-19 and its control entailing steroids and immunomodulatory medications disrupted normal immune function. The ensuing immunological disorder led to the rise of another infection—Black Fungus (Mucormycosis). However, the spread of Black Fungus can be minimized through proper knowledge, informed attitude, and conscious preventive practice. This study aimed to assess students’ knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) regarding Black Fungus amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out among Bangladeshi students from June to July 2021. Using Google Forms, an e-questionnaire was developed for this web-based survey, and the participants were selected through a snowball sampling approach. Results: Out of the 2009 participants, more than half were female (53.5%), and the majority were at an age between 18 and 25 years (31.5%) and had received higher secondary (HSC) schooling (77.8%), while around 61% resided in urban areas. Findings revealed that most of the students (63.8%) spent around 2 h on electronic and social media to become informed about COVID-19 and Black Fungus. Approximately 33% of the students showed low KAP scores (32.9%), whereas around 26% had high KAP scores. Our results show a significant association between KAP and sex, schooling, living status, residence, and media exposure. Conclusion: The knowledge of Black Fungus considerably varies among Bangladeshi students considering the place of residence, age, sex, living arrangement, and media exposure. Policymakers should emphasize awareness among people focusing on the results of this study to increase deterrent attitudes and protective practices to minimize the risks of being infected.

A cross-sectional study to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice about COVID-19 following the 2nd wave among the residents of Mysuru city

“…4 Study conducted by Islam et al among students to assess their KAP regarding black fungus showed that the knowledge about black fungus among 32.9% of their students was low and 26% had high scores. 5 In the present study, we find that 82.4% of the participants had heard about black fungus.…”

Knowledge, attitude, and practice of university students towards monkeypox in Bangladesh

“…Later, the score for each category was re-categorized into three levels, namely low, moderate, and high score. Finally, quartiles were used to classify the total score: up to the 25 th quartile was a low score, 26 th to 75 th quartile was a moderate score and more than the 76 th quartile was a high score in every module (knowledge, attitude, and practice) [ 32 ].…”

“…Inclusion criteria were: (i) a student enrolled in a Bangladeshi university and (ii) having the ability to read the instruction and write the response online using standard English. Considering the aforementioned criteria, the university students were approached, and using the purposive snowball sampling technique each participant was requested to forward the e-questionnaire to friends and others in their peers [11,20,[32][33][34][35][36]. A total of 887 responses were studied for this study after careful scrutiny.…”

Knowledge on mucormycosis among nursing Indian students in the state of Gujarat

“…A further infection known as Black Fungus (Mucormycosis) emerged as a result of the immune dysfunction that followed. However, with the right information, a knowledgeable mindset, and deliberate preventive behavior, the spread of black mold can be reduced [ 7 ]. Due to a dearth of population-based studies, it is uncertain how common mucormycosis is in India.…”