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      Knowledge, attitudes and practices on Rift Valley fever among agro pastoral communities in Kongwa and Kilombero districts, Tanzania

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      , , ,
      BMC Infectious Diseases
      BioMed Central

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          Abstract

          Background

          Rift valley fever (RVF) is a re-emerging viral vector-borne disease with rapid global socio-economic impact. A large RVF outbreak occurred in Tanzania in 2007 and affected more than half of the regions with high (47 %) case fatality rate. Little is known about RVF and its dynamics. A cross sectional study was conducted to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding RVF in Kongwa and Kilombero districts, Tanzania.

          Methods

          We conducted a cross sectional survey among a randomly selected sample of individuals in 2011. We administered questionnaires to collect data on demographic characteristics, knowledge on symptoms, mode of transmission, prevention, attitudes and health seeking practices.

          Results

          A total of 463 community members participated in this study. The mean (±SD) age was 39.8 ± 14.4 years and 238 (51.4 %) were female. Majority of respondents had heard of RVF. However, only 8.8 % knew that mosquitoes were transmitting vectors. Male respondents were more likely to have greater knowledge about RVF. A small proportion mentioned clinical signs and symptoms of RVF in animals while 73.7 % mentioned unhealthy practices related to handling and consumption of dead animals. Thorough boiling of milk and cooking of meat were commonly mentioned as preventive measures for RVF. Majority (74.6 %) sought care for febrile illness at health facilities. Few (24.3 %) reported the use of protective gears to handle dead/sick animal while 15.5 % were consuming dead animals.

          Conclusion

          Our study highlights the need to address the limited knowledge about RVF and promoting appropriate and timely health seeking practices. Rift valley fever outbreaks can be effectively managed with collaborative efforts of lay and professional communities with a shared perception that it poses a serious threat to public and animal health. The fact that this study was conducted in “high risk transmission areas” warrants further inquiry in other geographic regions with relatively low risk of RVF.

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          Most cited references27

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          Enzootic hepatitis or rift valley fever. An undescribed virus disease of sheep cattle and man from east africa

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            Rift Valley fever epidemic in Saudi Arabia: epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory characteristics.

            This cohort descriptive study summarizes the epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory characteristics of the Rift Valley fever (RVF) epidemic that occurred in Saudi Arabia from 26 August 2000 through 22 September 2001. A total of 886 cases were reported. Of 834 reported cases for which laboratory results were available, 81.9% were laboratory confirmed, of which 51.1% were positive for only RVF immunoglobulin M, 35.7% were positive for only RVF antigen, and 13.2% were positive for both. The mean age (+/- standard deviation) was 46.9+/-19.4 years, and the ratio of male to female patients was 4:1. Clinical and laboratory features included fever (92.6% of patients), nausea (59.4%), vomiting (52.6%), abdominal pain (38.0%), diarrhea (22.1%), jaundice (18.1%), neurological manifestations (17.1%), hemorrhagic manifestations (7.1%), vision loss or scotomas (1.5%), elevated liver enzyme levels (98%), elevated lactate dehydrogenase level (60.2%), thrombocytopenia (38.4%), leukopenia (39.7%), renal impairment or failure (27.8%), elevated creatine kinase level (27.3%), and severe anemia (15.1%). The mortality rate was 13.9%. Bleeding, neurological manifestations, and jaundice were independently associated with a high mortality rate. Patients with leukopenia had significantly a lower mortality rate than did those with a normal or high leukocyte count (2.3% vs. 27.9%; odds ratio, 0.09; 95% confidence interval, 0.01-0.63).
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              Rift Valley fever virus (family Bunyaviridae, genus Phlebovirus). Isolations from Diptera collected during an inter-epizootic period in Kenya.

              A total of 134 876 Diptera collected in Kenya during a 3-year period were tested in 3383 pools for Rift Valley fever (RVF) virus. Nineteen pools of unengorged mosquitoes were found positive for RVF. All isolations were made from specimens collected at or near the naturally or artificially flooded grassland depressions that serve as the developmental sites for the immature stages of many mosquito species. The isolation of virus from adult male and female A. lineatopennis which had been reared from field-collected larvae and pupae suggests that transovarial transmission of the virus occurs in this species.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                magwegason@yahoo.com
                e_mangi@yahoo.com , mezekiel@muhas.ac.tz
                mahdi67@yahoo.com
                cmoshiro@yahoo.com
                Journal
                BMC Infect Dis
                BMC Infect. Dis
                BMC Infectious Diseases
                BioMed Central (London )
                1471-2334
                21 August 2015
                21 August 2015
                2015
                : 15
                : 363
                Affiliations
                [ ]Health Department, Chunya District Council, Mbeya, Tanzania
                [ ]Tanzania Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programme, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
                [ ]Quality Assurance Department, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
                [ ]Department of Behavioural Sciences, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, PO Box 65015, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
                [ ]Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
                Article
                1099
                10.1186/s12879-015-1099-1
                4546207
                26293478
                a71f5a15-547e-49e6-a6e6-0718dcc11309
                © Shabani et al. 2015

                Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

                History
                : 15 October 2014
                : 7 August 2015
                Categories
                Research Article
                Custom metadata
                © The Author(s) 2015

                Infectious disease & Microbiology
                Infectious disease & Microbiology

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