A Study on Awareness Regarding Swine Flu among Paramedical Staff of Various Private Health Care Institutions at Puducherry

BACKGROUND Swine flu is causing a massive fear among the common public in India since its emergence in 2009. Influenza A H1N1 in humans can occur as mild illness or it can result in serious life-threatening complications like pneumonia, respiratory failure and death in some people. Health care professionals, who are involved in treating the swine flu affected patient, should be well aware of the symptoms of swine flu as well as precautionary measures to be followed during the treatment of the disease in order to protect themselves as well as the community. We wanted to investigate the knowledge and awareness about swine flu among paramedical staff working in various private health care institutions in Puducherry, India. METHODS This study was a cross sectional study, conducted among paramedical staff working in various private health care institutions at Puducherry in December 2018. 250 participants were included in the study. The participants were given predesigned questionnaire which included age, gender, occupation and their knowledge, awareness and preventive measures for swine flu. RESULTS 49.2% of participants knew about cough and cold symptoms. Fever, which is one of the symptoms of swine flu was known to 47.2% of swine flu participants, 20.8% of participants were aware that swine flu causes breathlessness and 100% have known about deaths due to swine flu. Regarding prevention of swine flu, wearing face mask was known to 94% of participants and 83.6% of participants had known about hand washing for prevention. 60.8% of participants had known about vaccine usage for prevention. 56.8% avoided overcrowded places and 6.8% adopted home stay in order to prevent swine flu. CONCLUSIONS Most of the participants of this study were very well aware about symptoms and preventive measures regarding swine flu since they are paramedical staffs presently working in different health care centers. But many studies previously conducted among common population states that the awareness regarding swine flu is very less. Hence, the government should conduct more awareness- and prevention-programs about swine flu in the community.