Differences in Perceived Severity of Zika Virus In

Authors: Li Ping Wong Haridah Alias Nasrin Aghamohammadi Iching Sam Sazaly AbuBakar

Publish Date: 2017/02/25

Volume: 42, Issue: 5, Pages: 854-864

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Abstract

The aims of this study were to explore the differences in 1 the perception of severity towards ZIKV infection and dengue fever and 2 mosquito control practices before and after the ZIKV outbreak were declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern PHEIC Data were collected between Feb to May 2016 using a computerassisted telephone interviewing system The median scale score for perceived severity of ZIKV was 3 interquartile range IQR 1–5 versus 4 IQR 3–5 for dengue P  0001 The scores for mosquito control practices before and after ZIKV was declared a PHEIC were similar at 4 IQR 3–5 Multivariate analysis revealed that participants with a higher score for perception of severity of ZIKV were more likely to report greater mosquito control practices after the declaration of the PHEIC OR 1822 95 CI 1107–2998 The emerging ZIKV pandemic requires concerted efforts to enhance mosquito control practices among the Malaysian public Efforts to improve public mosquito control practices should focus on enhancing the perception of the severity of ZIKVLi Ping Wong Jamal IChing Sam Abu Bakar Sazaly and Aghamohammadi Nasrin conceived the study Li Ping Wong and Haridah Alias performed the data collection Li Ping Wong Jamal IChing Sam Abu Bakar Sazaly and Aghamohammadi Nasrin revised the manuscript and gave approval of the version to be published All authors read and approved the final manuscript and wrote the manuscript

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