Ebola haemorrhagic fever and Nigerian dental healthcare providers - knowledge of the disease.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge of Ebola Haemorrhagic fever (EHF) among the University of Benin clinical dental students.

Methods: The study was a descriptive, cross-sectional study among consenting clinical (4th, 5th and 6th year) dental students of the University of Benin. The data collection tool was a 17-item self-administered validated questionnaire with a Chronbach's alpha value of 0.84. Data from the questionnaires were scored and graded, coded and finally entered into Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.0 for data analysis. All data collected were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics to generate frequencies, percentages and Chi-square values at a significance of P < 0.05.

Results: Out of the 79 questionnaires distributed, 76 were returned duly filled, giving a response rate of 96.2%. The sample consisted of 67.1% male and 32.9% female clinical dental students, with a male to female ratio of approximately 2:1. About 89.5% of the respondents were in the 3rd decade of life. The average score for the participants was 11.34 ± 2.20 which was above the average category. More than half (55.3%) of the clinical dental students had good knowledge. Over 98% of the students knew that EHF outbreaks occur primarily in Central and West Africa, however, only 16.7% of the students were aware that infected persons spread virus to others up to 7 weeks after recovery from illness.

Conclusion: The clinical dental students easily identified EHF as a viral infection with the fruit bats as the natural host of the Ebola organisms. However, their knowledge of communicability and diagnostics was on the average. Proper knowledge regarding EHF and infection preventive measures can be the key to safety of the dentists and patients in the event of an EHF epidemic.