Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL): A Cross-Sectional Community Based Survey on Knowledge, Attitude and Practices in a Highly Endemic Area of Waziristan (KPK Province), Pakistan.

Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL): A Cross-Sectional Community Based Survey on Knowledge, Attitude and Practices in a Highly Endemic Area of Waziristan (KPK Province), Pakistan. Acta Trop. 2020 Nov 05;:105746 Authors: Irum S, Ahmad A, Khan A, Naz S, Simsek S, Habib A, Afzal MS, Nadeem MA, Qasim M, Ahmed H Abstract Recent outbreaks of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL) in Waziristan make the disease a public health concern in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province, Pakistan. The awareness and behavior of local community towards the disease is an important factor towards effective control and management of CL in endemic areas of Pakistan. A cross-sectional community based survey was piloted in new emerging district North Waziristan Agency (KPK province), Pakistan from August 2019- February 2020. The study aimed to examine the Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) of the local community members regarding CL. The results revealed that majority of the participants were male. Only 48.2% participants have knowledge about CL and the respondents had a moderate knowledge of CL vector and the disease. Few of the respondents were aware that CL is caused by sand flies, their breeding place, biting time, transmission of CL and control measures. Skin infection and sand-flies were the main disease symptoms and disease vector were known to some of the respondents. Most of the respondents showed positive attitude towards disease seriousness and believed that the di...
Source: Acta Tropica - Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Tags: Acta Trop Source Type: research