Assessment of the knowledge about zoonotic diseases in high school students of educational institutions from the rural area of the municipality of Pasto, Narino

Zoonotic diseases are little known in general terms by the population, being a major cause of morbidity, mortality and economic losses in developing countries. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge of high school students from educational institutions in the rural area of the municipality of Pasto about some zoonotic diseases through training conducted by professionals and students from the Veterinary Medicine program at Universidad de Narino. The process involved 16 rural institutions with students from different high school grade levels who were applied a questionnaire before and after training about general concepts, toxocariasis, toxoplasmosis, rabies, brucellosis, tuberculosis, cysticercosis and leptospirosis. Cognitive change went from having the highest percentage of students within an "insufficient" level of knowledge in the diagnostic stage to an "excellent" cognitive level in the evaluation stage. It is concluded that there is lack of awareness about zoonotic diseases within the rural population assessed and sanitary education is a useful and necessary tool for contributing to the control and prevention of these diseases.