Dengue awareness in two high and low risk cities of the Central Department, Paraguay 2016

Introduction: Knowledge about dengue includes several aspects, such as clinical presentation, vector transmission mode, prevention measures and information source. Only from the health sector is disease control impossible , so community participation is indispensable. Objective: Determine the knowledge about dengue in two cities with high and low risk according to endemicity, Paraguay 2016. Methodology: Observational, analytical, crosssectional. The Directorate of Health Surveillance of the MSPyBS builds regional epidemiological scenarios, classifying them as endemic and nonendemic according to viral load. Endemic areas are reclassified according to epidemic thresholds at high risk, medium risk and low risk. Two districts, San Lorenzo, were selected as high risk (AR) and Itauguá low risk (BR); Trietapathic simple random sampling (apples, houses, people) was performed. Knowledge about dengue in the dimensions of; clinical symptoms, mode of transmission, preventive measures and sources of information. It was considered as high knowledge to have reached a level of 80% or more. Frequencies and percentages were used for descriptive Galeano Rosa , Ocampos Sandra2 Cabello Agueda, Ramos Pasionaria Ministerio de Salud Pública y Bienestar Social, Instituto Nacional de Salud, Asunción, Paraguay. 2 Ministerio de Salud Pública y Bienestar Social, Dirección General de Vigilancia de la Salud, Asunción, Paraguay. Universidad Nacional de Asunción, Facultad de Enfermería y Obstetricia, San Lorenzo, Paraguay. 4 Universidad Nacional de Asunción, Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud, San Lorenzo, Paraguay Correspondencia: Rosa Galeano, Correo electrónico: aligaleano.vera@gmail.com Responsable editorial: Miriam Espinola-Canata Cómo referenciar este articulo: Galeano R, Ocampos S, Caballero A, Ramos P. Conocimiento sobre dengue en dos ciudades de alto y bajo riesgo del Departamento Central, Paraguay, 2016. Rev. salud publica Parag. 2020; 10(2):37-41 Recibido el 22 de setiembre del 2019, aprobado para publicación el 03 de agosto del 2020 Dengue awareness in two high and low risk cities of the Central Department, Paraguay, 2016 Galeano R, et al. “Conocimiento sobre Dengue” http://dx.doi.org/10.18004/rspp.2020.diciembre.37 Esta obra está bajo una Licencia Creative Commons Atribución 4.0 Internacional. Rev. salud publica Parag. 2020; 10(2): 37-41 Rev. salud publica Parag. | Vol. 10 N° 2 | Julio Diciembre 2020 Rev. salud publica Parag. | Vol. 10 N° 2 | Julio Diciembre 2020 38 statistics; the relationship between qualitative variables with Chi square, OR with 95% CI, p value <0.05 was estimated, using Epi Info 7.. Results: 201 people from both districts were interviewed; 80% in RA and 73% in BR were female. In both districts they agree that fever, headache and pain are the best-known symptoms (95%, 85%, 69% AR 93%, 80%, 43%, BR). Mosquito bite cited as a mode of transmission (73% AR 68% BR. Regarding prevention measures 84% (BR) and 80% (AR) consider the elimination of hatchery as the most important; 80% (BR ) and 90% (AR) which is the responsibility of household members. The mass media were the source of information (85% AR 59% BR). It was found that living in an area of high endemic load, there is 2.6 times more opportunity to know the symptoms of the disease OR = 2.6 (CI 1.35-5.1). Conclusion: A high level of knowledge about symptoms, mode of transmission and prevention measures has been found. Living in a high-risk community facilitates the recognition of symptoms.