Knowledge of human immunodeficiency virus infection by workers at National Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu

Objective: To ascertain the knowledge of workers at National Orthopedic Hospital, Enugu of Human immunodeficiency virus(HIV) infection interms of its transmission, symptoms and preventionMethods: A cross sectional study of three hundred and eighty workers was studied using pretested questionnaires in 2008Result: Majority of the workers (85.3%) knew that HIV infection was caused by germs. The epidemic nature of the infection in our country wasonly acknowledged by 43.9% of the workers. The asymptomatic nature of HIV infection was only acknowledged by 7.4% of the workers.Majority of the workers (76.3%) had good knowledge of its symptoms .Majority of the workers had good knowledge of it transmission andpreventive measures (81% and 70% respectively). Twenty percent did not know of maternal to fetal transmission and forty percent were notaware of medical treatmentConclusion: Knowledge of HIV symptoms, transmission, preventive measures were good in majority of the workers. Lack of knowledge of theepidemic nature of HIV infection, the fact that HIV infection could be asymptomatic, and the lack of knowledge of medical treatment calls formore education in these aspects