Project Description

Author: Hasan et al.

Summary:

Background: Increased number of monkeypox cases has rung alarm immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic. Appropriate knowledge led awareness is the only way to reduce the catastrophy of this disease. This study aimed to explore the understanding about dynamics of monkeypox transmission and epidemiology among Bangladeshi participants.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in outpatients department (OPD) of a tertiary care teaching institute for the period of 1 month using a convenice sampling technique. Healthy volunteer who visiting the OPD as accaompany of the paitents were approached for inclusion. A total of 383 subjects aged over 18 years, were surveyed. A standard questionnaire was administered by research team to obtain demographic characteristics, knbowlege aobut epidemiology of the monkeypox virus and dynamic of disease transmission of the disease. Both frequencies and proportions were calculated, followed by multivariable analyses to examine the association between knowledge scores and the sociodemographic variables.

Results: A total of 214 male and 169 femlae were surveyed. Mean age of the subjects was 36.03± 12.14 (SD). Approximately 14% were illiterate, 26% completed their primary education, 31% had completed secondary or higher secondary level education. The proportion of subjects completed their grudation or post-gruation were 29%. The mean knowledge score was 7.7 (SD 3.2). Good knowledge was reported by almost 27% of the participants when a cut-off of 70% score was applied. Television (60%) was the most cited source for Monkeypox information, followed by interent (social media) (27%) and newspaper (21%). After adjusting the sociodemographic variable, higher educational attainment (OR 4.53 95% CI 1.46-16.3, p=0.013) and higher family income (OR 2.50 95% CI 1.22-5.15, p=0.012) were the predictors of good knowledge.

Conclusion: Our research showed that overall knowledge about monkeypox are poor among the pariticipants. However, generalisation of survey findings must be with caution owing to the limitations of the sampling methods and selection of the particular group of subjects. Yet, the study findings could be a reference for the country during policy making and futher planning.

Keywords: Monkeypox, Pandemic, COVID-19, Knowledge, Zoonotic disease, Orthopox DNA virus

Status: Ongoing

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