KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE ABOUT JAPANESE ENCEPHALITIS AND COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION FOR ITS PREVENTION IN SIVASAGAR, ASSAM - A CROSS SECTIONAL SURVEY

The study was undertaken to understand the current JE scenario of Sivasagar, develop awareness and the importance of community participation. A questionnaire based cross-sectional survey was carried out by visiting Japanese encephalitis Patients from 2015 to 2019 to study epidemiology, sociodemographic status and the knowledge of people about the disease . Chi-square test was performed to evaluate the association among variables with significance level of 95%.Total 256 participants were interacted. 62% have lack of knowledge on vectors, 73% are unaware about proper symptoms and 69% have partial information on transmission cycle. The epidemic season for JE is from April to August of every year. The majority of infections occur in rural areas 77%. All ages are at risk. 64% of the respondents showed positive attitude towards community participation. The association between knowledge – Attitude is statistically significant (P-value .00001).Vaccination, control of vectors, and personal protection are the preventive measures. Identification of geographic locations of occurrence of disease, then a conversation with the patient and family members regarding clinical symptoms, their sociodemographic status, and knowledge regarding JE is important for the control of the disease