Background: Fishermen and boatmen are high risk population to get infection by schistosomes due to their high frequency water contact in endemic areas of schistosomiasis in the People’s Republic of China (P. R. China). To develop specific interventions towards this population, understanding their knowledge, attitude and practices (KAPs) towards schistosomiasis and exploring risk factors for schistosomiasis are necessary. Therefore, our present study was designed to assess the KAPs of fishermen and boatmen and to identify the risk factors associated with schistosome infection based on a cross-sectional survey in selected area.
Methods: A cross section survey was conducted in Dongting Lake Basin of Yueyang County, Hunan Province, P. R. China. A total of 601 fishermen and boatmen were interviewed from October to November in 2017. Information regarding socio-demographic details and knowledge, attitude, and practices toward schistosomiasis were collected through a standardized questionnaire. Meanwhile, fecal samples of participants were collected and detected by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technique to understand the infection status of schistosomes among fishermen and boatmen.
Results: Of the 601 interviewed participants, more than 90% respondents knew the way of getting infection, intermediate host of schistosomes and preventive methods, while majority of the respondents knew this disease and its cause, clinical manifestations and transmission mode properly. The majority of the respondents had positive attitude towards schistosomiasis prevention. However, only 6.66% respondents had installed latrine on their boats, while 32.61% respondents defecated in the public toilets on shore. In addition, only 4.99% respondents protected themselves while contacting freshwater. The overall positive rate of schistosome nucleic acid among fishermen and boatmen in Yueyang County was 13.81% (83/601). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that age, years of doing current job, times receiving treatment and whether treated in last two years were the main influencing factors of S. japonicum infection among this population.
Conclusions: Fishermen and boatmen are still at high risk of infection in China, and gaps existed between knowledge, attitude and practices toward schistosomiasis in this population group. Chemotherapy, health education encouraging behavior change in combination with other integrated approaches to decrease the transmission risk in environments should be strengthened.
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Background: Fishermen and boatmen are high risk population to get infection by schistosomes due to their high frequency water contact in endemic areas of schistosomiasis in the People’s Republic of China (P. R. China). To develop specific interventions towards this population, understanding their knowledge, attitude and practices (KAPs) towards schistosomiasis and exploring risk factors for schistosomiasis are necessary. Therefore, our present study was designed to assess the KAPs of fishermen and boatmen and to identify the risk factors associated with schistosome infection based on a cross-sectional survey in selected area.
Methods: A cross section survey was conducted in Dongting Lake Basin of Yueyang County, Hunan Province, P. R. China. A total of 601 fishermen and boatmen were interviewed from October to November in 2017. Information regarding socio-demographic details and knowledge, attitude, and practices toward schistosomiasis were collected through a standardized questionnaire. Meanwhile, fecal samples of participants were collected and detected by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technique to understand the infection status of schistosomes among fishermen and boatmen.
Results: Of the 601 interviewed participants, more than 90% respondents knew the way of getting infection, intermediate host of schistosomes and preventive methods, while majority of the respondents knew this disease and its cause, clinical manifestations and transmission mode properly. The majority of the respondents had positive attitude towards schistosomiasis prevention. However, only 6.66% respondents had installed latrine on their boats, while 32.61% respondents defecated in the public toilets on shore. In addition, only 4.99% respondents protected themselves while contacting freshwater. The overall positive rate of schistosome nucleic acid among fishermen and boatmen in Yueyang County was 13.81% (83/601). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that age, years of doing current job, times receiving treatment and whether treated in last two years were the main influencing factors of S. japonicum infection among this population.
Conclusions: Fishermen and boatmen are still at high risk of infection in China, and gaps existed between knowledge, attitude and practices toward schistosomiasis in this population group. Chemotherapy, health education encouraging behavior change in combination with other integrated approaches to decrease the transmission risk in environments should be strengthened.
Figure 1
Figure 2
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