Awareness, Basic Knowledge and Preventive Practices on Leptospirosis among Students in Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina) Shin Cheng (Harcoft), Selangor, Malaysia.

Abstract

Leptospira is a genus of spirochaete bacteria that causes a widespread zoonotic disease called leptospirosis. Leptospirosis is still endemic in Malaysia and the number of cases in Selangor is still considerably high. This study aimed to measure the awareness, basic knowledge and preventive practices on leptospirosis among students in Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina) Shin Cheng (Harcoft), Selangor, Malaysia. A cross-sectional study design was done and data from 105 students were collected. The study was conducted with face-to-face interview using paper questionnaire and the results were then keyed into Google form. The data were then analyzed with Chi-square test of independence and Fisher’s exact test to see the relationship between the sociodemographic of students with the knowledge and practice level of students towards leptospirosis. The study showed that around one third (31,4%) of the students have never heard or was less aware of the disease leptospirosis. As for knowledge and practice level towards leptospirosis, 36,2% of students had good knowledge and majority of the students (90,5%) had satisfactory score for practice level. The gender of students had no significant relationship (p>0,05) with the knowledge and practice level. However, the school level of students had an association (p<0,05) with the knowledge and practice level towards leptospirosis. From this study, it was found that the awareness and knowledge level among student on leptospirosis could not be considered as good. Therefore, further enforcement of public health education and awareness program in school should be carried out.