A Cross-sectional Study on Perception Regarding Dengue Fever among Mid-adolescent Boys in South India

Dengue is the most rapidly spreading mosquito-borne viral illness, which has become a major public health concern in India. The global incidence of dengue has increased dramatically in recent decades; about half of the world's population is now at risk. The epidemiology and ecology of Dengue Fever are strongly associated with human habits. So the present study was conducted to study the current level of knowledge, attitude and practices regarding dengue fever among mid adolescent school boys.

The present cross-sectional study was conducted during March to August 2013. As the study was intended to conduct on the mid adolescent boys (age-14-16yrs), so students of the class VIII and class IX were selected from boys schools around urban slum of Guntur with prior consent from the concerned authority. Among the 5 secondary boys school served by the School HealthDepartment, 3 schools were selected randomly. One section of class VIII and IX each from these 3 schools was selected randomly and total sample size of 161 obtained. As 14 students were lost to follow up final analysis was conducted on 147children.

Major source of knowledge regarding dengue was found to be acquired from TV/Radio (59.62%) followed by newspaper/magazines (32.41%).36.05% respondents had correct knowledge about the mosquito vector transmitting dengue, 34.69% correctly knew about the biting habit of Aedes Aegypti. Preventive practices were mainly directed towards personal protective measures.

Health education to children especially the adolescents always has a long term effect since the correct message will be transmitted for generations to come.