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Public Awareness and Practices of Pastoral and Agro Pastoral Community Towards Zoonotic Brucella Infection in Afar Regional State of North East Ethiopia

Received: 8 December 2014    Accepted: 23 December 2014    Published: 6 September 2015
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Abstract

Camel brucellosis represents a major public health hazard, which affects social and economic development in various developing countries including the pastoral areas of Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine public awareness, attitude and practices of the pastoralists, agro pastoralists, animal health assistants and human health professionals towards zoonotic Brucella infection in the region using a questionnaire. A total of 168 respondents (56 individuals from each district) were interviewed. According to the logistic regression analysis, Literacy was found statistically significant (P<0.05) in association with awareness of the community about the disease. All respondents expressed that they consume raw milk and they did not use any protective material while handling parturient camels, removing placenta and/or other aborted materials. Only 13 (7.7%) had knowledge about brucellosis and 98 (58.3%) of the respondents had family members with fever of unknown cause and other signs of brucellosis. During the study, 40 animal health assistants were participated and almost all had knowledge on zoonotic Brucella infection. Moreover, out of the 112 human health professionals included in the study, only 14 (12.5%) had knowledge on zoonotic Brucella infection. But none of them had ever diagnosed the disease in humans and the reason for the diagnosis problem was lack of facility and no attention was given to the disease. The questionnaire survey revealed that there was a knowledge gap not only in the community but also in the human health professionals about zoonotic Brucella infection in the study areas. Even though the animal health assistants had better awareness about the disease, they did not collaborate with human health professionals to create awareness to the community and to prevent the disease. Therefore, Public education on modern animal husbandry, disease prevention and risk of zoonotic Brucella infection should be imparted continuously.

Published in European Journal of Preventive Medicine (Volume 3, Issue 5)
DOI 10.11648/j.ejpm.20150305.13
Page(s) 141-146
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Afar, Awareness, Brucella, Ethiopia, Practice, Zoonosis

References
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  • APA Style

    Angesom Hadush Desta. (2015). Public Awareness and Practices of Pastoral and Agro Pastoral Community Towards Zoonotic Brucella Infection in Afar Regional State of North East Ethiopia. European Journal of Preventive Medicine, 3(5), 141-146. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ejpm.20150305.13

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    ACS Style

    Angesom Hadush Desta. Public Awareness and Practices of Pastoral and Agro Pastoral Community Towards Zoonotic Brucella Infection in Afar Regional State of North East Ethiopia. Eur. J. Prev. Med. 2015, 3(5), 141-146. doi: 10.11648/j.ejpm.20150305.13

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    AMA Style

    Angesom Hadush Desta. Public Awareness and Practices of Pastoral and Agro Pastoral Community Towards Zoonotic Brucella Infection in Afar Regional State of North East Ethiopia. Eur J Prev Med. 2015;3(5):141-146. doi: 10.11648/j.ejpm.20150305.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ejpm.20150305.13,
      author = {Angesom Hadush Desta},
      title = {Public Awareness and Practices of Pastoral and Agro Pastoral Community Towards Zoonotic Brucella Infection in Afar Regional State of North East Ethiopia},
      journal = {European Journal of Preventive Medicine},
      volume = {3},
      number = {5},
      pages = {141-146},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ejpm.20150305.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ejpm.20150305.13},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ejpm.20150305.13},
      abstract = {Camel brucellosis represents a major public health hazard, which affects social and economic development in various developing countries including the pastoral areas of Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine public awareness, attitude and practices of the pastoralists, agro pastoralists, animal health assistants and human health professionals towards zoonotic Brucella infection in the region using a questionnaire. A total of 168 respondents (56 individuals from each district) were interviewed. According to the logistic regression analysis, Literacy was found statistically significant (PBrucella infection. Moreover, out of the 112 human health professionals included in the study, only 14 (12.5%) had knowledge on zoonotic Brucella infection. But none of them had ever diagnosed the disease in humans and the reason for the diagnosis problem was lack of facility and no attention was given to the disease. The questionnaire survey revealed that there was a knowledge gap not only in the community but also in the human health professionals about zoonotic Brucella infection in the study areas. Even though the animal health assistants had better awareness about the disease, they did not collaborate with human health professionals to create awareness to the community and to prevent the disease. Therefore, Public education on modern animal husbandry, disease prevention and risk of zoonotic Brucella infection should be imparted continuously.},
     year = {2015}
    }
    

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    AB  - Camel brucellosis represents a major public health hazard, which affects social and economic development in various developing countries including the pastoral areas of Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine public awareness, attitude and practices of the pastoralists, agro pastoralists, animal health assistants and human health professionals towards zoonotic Brucella infection in the region using a questionnaire. A total of 168 respondents (56 individuals from each district) were interviewed. According to the logistic regression analysis, Literacy was found statistically significant (PBrucella infection. Moreover, out of the 112 human health professionals included in the study, only 14 (12.5%) had knowledge on zoonotic Brucella infection. But none of them had ever diagnosed the disease in humans and the reason for the diagnosis problem was lack of facility and no attention was given to the disease. The questionnaire survey revealed that there was a knowledge gap not only in the community but also in the human health professionals about zoonotic Brucella infection in the study areas. Even though the animal health assistants had better awareness about the disease, they did not collaborate with human health professionals to create awareness to the community and to prevent the disease. Therefore, Public education on modern animal husbandry, disease prevention and risk of zoonotic Brucella infection should be imparted continuously.
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Author Information
  • College of Veterinary Medicine, Samara University, Samara, Ethiopia

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