Knowledge on spread and control of animal to human brucellosis among adult people in Nyakatozi Sub-county, Kasese District

Abstract

Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease caused by a gram-negative facultative bacterium. Brucellosis is an endemic disease both in humans and animals particularly in Africa. Brucellosis affects most developing countries and in Uganda, the disease has gained a foothold in many parts. A cross sectional study was carried out in Nyakatozi subcounty to investigate knowledge on spread and control of animal to human brucellosis. 211 adult respondents were interviewed from five parishes out of the fourteen parishes in the subcounty. A structured questionnaire was administered to individually assess the respondent’s knowledge on brucellosis after randomly selecting them in their respective parishes that were selected. The structured questionnaire consisted of a section on socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents, a section of questions on the general knowledge on brucellosis and other two sections on spread and control of animal to human brucellosis respectively. 98.1% (207) of respondents agreed to have heard about brucellosis and 92.4% (195) knew that humans suffer from brucellosis. 63.9% of the respondents believe that drinking unpasteurized milk is among the top causes of brucellosis transmission. 82.0% believe that brucellosis can spread from infected wild animals to humans. 51.7% of respondents agree that handling animals suspected of brucellosis with bare hands cannot transmit brucellosis to humans putting them at a risk of contracting brucellosis. A small percentage, 24.6% of the respondents agree on use of protective gears(gloves) in controlling brucellosis. A relationship using chi-square test was demonstrated between socio-demographics (sex, age, gender, occupation and level of education) and knowledge about brucellosis (P≤0.05). The study found that the knowledge on brucellosis was high in individuals in tertiary 41.62% (77) than those in primary 26.48% (49) and secondary 31.89% (59). The level of knowledge on brucellosis increased with age where increase in knowledge is more in the age groups of 18-30, 26.48% (49), 31-40, 28.10% (52) and 41-50, 28.10% (52) and above 50, 17.29% (32), the level of knowledge decreased. Knowledge about brucellosis was demonstrated to be high in cattle farmers 55.67% (107) than crop growers 39.45% (73). Knowledge on brucellosis was demonstrated to be high in males 115(62.16%) than females 37.87% (70). Computed Chi-square (X²) values and their respective degrees of freedom for relationship between sociodemographic and knowledge was P≤0.00001 revealing that the difference in knowledge was a significant finding. I recommend educating the subcounty about use of protective gears and vaccination of animals against brucellosis.