Household survey on public awareness and attitudes toward dengue infection in rural Tamil Nadu, South India

BACKGROUND: Dengue is the most common life-threatening arboviral infection contributing to 92 million infections worldwide. India alone contributes for 34% of the global burden. Success of dengue control depends largely on adequate knowledge and good practices of preventive measures. However, there is a need to find the existing awareness among the general population, especially in rural areas. Thus, our present study was done to determine the awareness, attitude, and practice measures regarding dengue fever in rural Tamil Nadu. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional survey was done among 303 individuals belonging to the selected village in rural Tamil Nadu during November 2016. Information regarding sociodemographic details and awareness, attitude, and practice toward dengue were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. Adequacy of knowledge and attitude was summarized as proportion with 95% confidence interval. RESULTS: Among 303 participants, 204 (67.3%) were above 30 years of age; 196 (64.6%) were females; 255 (84.1%) were ever married; 149 (49.1%) were employed and most of them 93 (30.6%) were educated up to secondary level; 103 (33.9%) belonged to the Class 4 socioeconomic status. About 33.3% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 28.2-38.8) of the study participants had adequate knowledge and 56.1% (95% CI: 50.5-61.6) had positive attitude toward dengue prevention. About 57.7% (95% CI: 52.1-63.2) were practicing preventive measures. CONCLUSION: The current study found that only one-third of the participants had adequate knowledge regarding dengue but more than half of them had positive attitude toward dengue prevention and practicing mosquito control measures. Hence, large-scale information, education, and communication campaigns need to done at frequent intervals for rural population.