Zika Virus: Knowledge, Attitude and Preventive Practices of Medical Doctors in a Tertiary Health Institution in Northern Nigeria

Zika virus, is an emerging arbovirus transmitted to humans through infected female Aedes species mosquitoes such as A albopictus and A aegypti via blood transfusion, sexual activities and from mother to fetus. This study aimed at assessing the knowledge, attitude and preventive practices of medical doctors at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital Sokoto.

This was a cross-sectional descriptive study carried out amongst medical doctors at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto. A set of semi structured, self- administered questionnaire was used to obtain information on knowledge, attitude and preventive practices against ZIKV using a two stage sampling method. Data collected was entered into and analyzed using SPSS statistical software version 23. The data was analyzed and summarized using frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviation (SD) and presented as tables and charts. The Fisher’s exact test was used to establish the association between socio-demographic variables and attitude and knowledge of Zika virus infection with p- value set at p < 0.05.

The research was approved by the Health Research Ethics committee of the teaching hospital.

Most of respondents in this study had good knowledge (87.5%), positive attitude (82.1%) and good practices of prevention of ZIKV (87.5%) respectively. There was a statistically significant association between attitude and knowledge of ZIKV as the respondents with positive attitude had good knowledge of the virus (p=0.002).

Our respondents who are physicians displayed a very good knowledge, attitude and practices towards the ZIKV infection. Physicians as front line health workers are at a greater risk of being infected with ZIKV, and this underscores the need for them to always adhere to laid down standard operating procedures and universal precautionary measures. These will go a long way in reducing the morbidity and mortality associated with this infection.