Knowledge and perception as critical components in recognition of Covid-19 symptoms
https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/njpar.v42i1.2
Keywords:
COVID-19, Knowledge,, Symptoms, Preventive measuresAbstract
The knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) people hold towards a new disease could play a major role in the way they accept measures put in place to curb its spread as Symptoms of COVID-19 are similar to those of other endemic diseases, especially malaria. A cross-sectional KAP/symptomatology online survey was conducted from August –September 2020 across the six geopolitical regions of Nigeria. Data were entered into Google sheets and analyses performed using SPSS version 20. From the 900 respondents, majority 66% were from the North west while 1.2% were from the North east. By sex and age distribution, 69% were males while females were 31%. Age group 15-25 years were more (32.22%) and the least (11%) among respondents were above 65years. Majority of respondents (57.89%), had not experienced symptoms associated with COVID-19 in the past 3 months before this study, however 96.0% of respondents have heard about COVID- 19 prior the time of survey. Hyperthemia (high fever) 636(70.67%) was accurately recognized by respondents as the most common symptoms. Other highly mentioned symptoms were dry or chesty cough, shortness of breath, catarrh and cough, difficulty in breathing at night, painful breathing, and weakness or tiredness, with significant differences in the responses recorded for the recognition of COVID-19 symptoms across the geopolitical zones (p=0.00). In terms of preventive measures, 771(85.67%) respondents perceive regular hand washing with soap as the major preventive measure for COVID- 19 infection. This was followed by the usage of face mask 659(73.22%). Also, 794(88.22%) respondents accurately recognized hyperthemia as the most common overlapping symptom between malaria and COVID-19. Other highly mentioned overlapping symptoms were weakness or tiredness 591(65.67%), loss of appetite 504 (56.00%), loss of taste and smell 388(43.11%), and catarrh and cough 313(34.78%). We conclude that awareness of COVID-19 symptoms is fairly high in the country.Awareness strategies should target those with limited access to information on the disease.
References
WHO Coronavirus Disease Dashboard 2020/11/12
Coronaviridae Study Group of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses; Gorbalenya, A.E. The species Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus: Classifying 2019-nCoV and naming it SARS-CoV-2. Nat. Microbiol. 2020, 5, 536–544. [CrossRef] [PubMed
Di Gennaro, F.; Pizzol, D.; Marotta, C.; Antunes, M.; Racalbuto, V.; Veronese, N.; Smith, L. Coronavirus Diseases (COVID- 19) Current Status and Future Perspectives: A Narrative Review. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 2690. [CrossRef] [PubMed]
Agusi ER, Ijoma SI, Nnochin CS, Njokuachu NO, Ignatius C, Meseko CA. Commentary The COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing in Nigeria?: ignorance or defiance. 2020;35(Supp 2):1–3.
Amzat J, Aminu K, Kolo VI, Akinyele AA, Ogundairo JA, Danjibo MC. International Journal of Infectious Diseases Coronavirus outbreak in Nigeria?: Burden and sociomedical response during the first 100 days. Int J Infect Dis [Internet]. 2020;98:218–24. A v a i l a b l e f r o m : https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2020.06.067
Cheng VCC, Lau SKP, Woo PCY, Kwok YY. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus as an agent of emerging and reemerging infection. Clin Microbiol Rev. 2007;20(4):660–94.
International Pharmaceutical Federation. CORONAVIRUS SARS-CoV-2 / COVID- 19 PANDEMIC?: Information and interim guidelines for pharmacists and the pharmacy workforce. Fip Adv Pharm Worldw. 2020;(March):0–48.
ECDC -European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. COVID-19 Testing Strategies and Objectives. ECDC Tech Rep. 2020;(15 September 2020).
Nilima N, Kaushik S, Tiwary B, Kant P. Psycho-social factors associated with the nationwide lockdown in India during COVID- 19 pandemic. Clin Epidemiol Glob Heal [Internet]. 2020;(June):1–6. Available from:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cegh.2020.0 6.010
Sengeh P, Jalloh MB, Webber N, Ngobeh I, Samba T, Thomas H, et al. Community knowledge, perceptions and practices around COVID-19 in Sierra Leone?: a nationwide, cross-sectional survey. 2020;1–8.
Abayomi A, Odukoya O, Osibogun A, Wright O, Adebayo B, Balogun M, et al. Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-
resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company â€TM s public news and information. 2020;(January).
Ajisegiri WS, Odusanya OO, Joshi R. COVID-19 Outbreak Situation in Nigeria and the Need for Effective Engagement of Community Health Workers for Epidemic Response. 2020;1(4).
Guan W, Ni Z, Hu Y, Liang W, Ou C, He J, et al. Clinical Characteristics of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in China. N Engl J Med. 2020;382(18):1708–20.
Singhal T. A Review of Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19). Indian J Pediatr. 2020;87(4):281–6.
Muurlink OT, Taylor-Robinson AW. COVID-19: Cultural Predictors of Gender Differences in Global Prevalence Patterns. Front Public Heal. 2020;8(April):10–2.
Chanda-Kapata P, Kapata N, Zumla A. COVID-19 and malaria: A symptom screening challenge for malaria endemic countries. Int J Infect Dis. 2020;94:151–3.
Narayanaswamy Vasantha Raju, Harinarayana N.S. Online survey tools?: A case study of Google Forms Online. Natl Conf "Scientific, Comput Inf Res Trends Eng GSSS-IETW, Mysore. 2016;(January 2016):1–12.
Olapegba PO, Iorfa SK, Kolawole SO, Oguntayo R, Gandi JC, Ottu IFA, et al. Survey data of COVID-19-related Knowledge, Risk Perceptions and Precautionary Behavior among Nigerians. Data Br [Internet]. 2020;30:105685. Available from : https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2020.105685
Oliver N, Barber X, Roomp K, Roomp K. The COVID-19 Impact survey: Assessing the pulse of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Spain via 24 questions. arXiv. 2020;1–30.
Serwaa D, Lamptey E, Appiah AB, Senkyire EK, Ameyaw JK. Knowledge, risk perception and preparedness towards coronavirus disease- 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak among Ghanaians?: a quick online cross-sectional survey. 2020;2019(Supp 2):1–7.
Sengeh P, Jalloh MB, Webber N, Ngobeh I, Samba T, Thomas H, et al. Community knowledge, perceptions and practices around COVID-19 in Sierra Leone?: a nationwide, cross-sectional survey. 2020;1–8.
Ilesanmi O, Afolabi A. Perception and practices during the COVID-19 pandemic in an urban community in Nigeria: A crosssectional study. Peer J. 2020;8:1–15. 22. Christopher R, Margaret R, Dauda MAD, Saleh A, Ene P. Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Towards COVID-19: An Epidemiological Survey in North - Central Nigeria. J Community Health [Internet]. 2020;(123456789). Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-020-00881- 1
van Daalen KR, Bajnoczki C, Chowdhury M, Dada S, Khorsand P, Socha A, et al. Symptoms of a broken system: the gender gaps in COVID-19 decision-making. BMJ Glob Heal. 2020;5(10):e003549.
Abdelhafiz AS, Mohammed Z, Ibrahim ME, Ziady HH, Alorabi M, Ayyad M, et al. Knowledge, Perceptions, and Attitude of Egyptians Towards the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19). J Community Health [Internet]. 2020;45(5):881–90. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900- 020- 00827-7
Hager E, Id IAO, Id OB, Zainab A. Knowledge, attitude, and perceptions towards the 2019 Coronavirus Pandemic?: A bi-national survey in Africa. 2020;1–13. Available from : http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.023 6918
Zhong BL, Luo W, Li HM, Zhang QQ, Liu XG, Li WT, et al. Knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards COVID-19 among Chinese residents during the rapid rise period of the COVID-19 outbreak: A quick online cross-sectional survey. Int J Biol Sci. 2020;16(10):1745–52.
Zegarra-Valdivia J, Chino Vilca BN, AmesGuerrero RJ. Knowledge, perception and attitudes in regard to COVID-19 Pandemic in Peruvian Population. 2020;(April).
Gohel KH, Patel PB, Shah PM, Patel JR, Pandit N. Knowledge and perceptions about COVID-19 among the medical and allied health science students in India?: An online cross-sectional survey. Clin Epidemiol Glob Heal [Internet]. 2020; (July):1–6. Available from:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cegh.2020.0 7.008
Geldsetzer P. Knowledge and Perceptions of COVID-19 Among the General Public in the United States and the United Kingdom: A Cross- sectional Online Survey. Ann Intern Med. 2020;173(2):157–60.
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Steps to help prevent the spread of COVID- 19 if you are sick. Dep Heal Hum Serv United StatesAm. 2020;
WHO, Aylward, Bruce (WHO); Liang W (PRC). Report of the WHO-China Joint Mission on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). WHO-China Jt Mission Coronavirus Dis 2019 [Internet]. 2020;2019(February):16–24. Available from: https://www.who.int/docs/defaultsource/coronaviruse/who-china-jointmission-on-covid-19-final-report.pdf
Adhikari SP, Meng S, Wu Y, Mao Y, Ye R, Wang Q, et al. A scoping review of 2019 Novel Coronavirus during the early outbreak period: Epidemiology, causes, clinical manifestation and diagnosis, prevention and control. 2020;1–12.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Nigerian Journal of Parasitology
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
