Factors associated with larval control practices in a dengue outbreak prone area

• Main Authors: Ismail, Z. (Author), Mohamad, M. (Author), Selamat, M.I (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2014
• Subjects: adolescent; adult; Adult; Aedes; aged; animal; Animals; Article; attitude to health; attitude to illness; bed net; Cities; city; community assessment; Cross-Sectional Studies; cross-sectional study; dengue; Dengue; Disease Outbreaks; educational status; female; Female; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; housewife; human; Humans; infection risk; larva; Larva; larval control; larvicidal agent; Logistic Models; major clinical study; Malaysia; male; Male; middle aged; Middle Aged; mosquito; Mosquito Control; priority journal; procedures; statistical model; transmission; unemployment; vector control; virus transmission; young adult; Young Adult
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher; View in Scopus

 In order to reduce the risk of dengue outbreak recurrence in a dengue outbreak prone area, the members of the community need to sustain certain behavior to prevent mosquito from breeding. Our study aims to identify the factors associated with larval control practices in this particular community. A cross-sectional study involves 322 respondents living in a dengue outbreak prone area who were interviewed using a pretested questionnaire. The level of knowledge about Aedes mosquitoes, dengue transmission, its symptoms, and personal preventive measures ranges from fair to good. The level of attitude towards preventive measures was high. However, reported level of personal larval control practices was low (33.2%). Our multiple logistic regression analysis showed that only those with a good level of attitude towards personal preventive measure and frequent attendance to health campaigns were significantly associated with the good larval control practices. We conclude that, in a dengue outbreak prone area, having a good attitude towards preventive measures and frequent participation in health campaigns are important factors to sustain practices on larval control. © 2014 Mariam Mohamad et al.