Doxycycline Usage for Prevention of Leptospirosis among Farmers and Reasons for Failure to Use Chemoprophylaxis: A Descriptive Study from Southern Sri Lanka
Background. Leptospirosis causes substantial morbidity and mortality in Sri Lanka. Health authorities have implemented a chemoprophylaxis programme for prevention of disease for farmers who are at a high risk of leptospirosis. Only 39% of general population is aware of chemoprophylaxis. Awareness on...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:90a41a63244149fcafb5064e6f322a36 2023-05-15T15:16:21+02:00 Doxycycline Usage for Prevention of Leptospirosis among Farmers and Reasons for Failure to Use Chemoprophylaxis: A Descriptive Study from Southern Sri Lanka C. L. Fonseka B. N. Vidanapathirana C. M. de Silva A. A. B. B. Athukorala P. R. Goonawardena A. P. Karunathilake I. H. Rajapakse A. S. Dissanayake 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/2917154 https://doaj.org/article/90a41a63244149fcafb5064e6f322a36 EN eng Hindawi Limited http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2019/2917154 https://doaj.org/toc/1687-9686 https://doaj.org/toc/1687-9694 1687-9686 1687-9694 doi:10.1155/2019/2917154 https://doaj.org/article/90a41a63244149fcafb5064e6f322a36 Journal of Tropical Medicine, Vol 2019 (2019) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 article 2019 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/2917154 2022-12-31T01:12:53Z Background. Leptospirosis causes substantial morbidity and mortality in Sri Lanka. Health authorities have implemented a chemoprophylaxis programme for prevention of disease for farmers who are at a high risk of leptospirosis. Only 39% of general population is aware of chemoprophylaxis. Awareness on chemoprophylaxis and its usage among the risk population and the reasons for non-usage was uncertain. Our aim was to assess the chemoprophylaxis usage for prevention of leptospirosis among farmers and reasons for failure to use such preventive strategy. Methods. Cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on farmers in community setting in Galle District. Multi-stage cluster sampling method was used. Out of the seventeen “Ministry of Health” (MOH) divisions within the Galle district, nine divisions were randomly selected and, subsequently, two subdivisions (“Public Health Midwife” divisions) were randomly selected from each MOH division. From each PHM division (total of 18), a cluster who does farming as the main source of income was selected. From these farmers, details on demographics, knowledge on leptospirosis and knowledge and practice on chemoprophylaxis usage were obtained through an interviewer administered open-ended questionnaire. From those who have not properly taken chemoprophylaxis, the reasons for non-usage were explored by semistructured interviews. Results. We recruited 319 (77%-males) farmers to the study. Eighteen (5.6%) have already had leptospirosis. Majority (86.8%) of farmers were aware that doxycycline can be used to prevent the disease occurrence. Only 31% knew about correct recommendations of chemoprophylaxis usage adopted by the national guidelines. Only 28.5% (91) used doxycycline prophylaxis. Out of those, only 60 farmers (65.9%) continued the prophylaxis throughout the contact and followed national recommendations. Themes responsible for non-usage were elicited such as lack of awareness of chemoprophylaxis usage, false sense of security from the disease by perceived “immunity” due to ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Journal of Tropical Medicine 2019 1 6 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 |
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Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 C. L. Fonseka B. N. Vidanapathirana C. M. de Silva A. A. B. B. Athukorala P. R. Goonawardena A. P. Karunathilake I. H. Rajapakse A. S. Dissanayake Doxycycline Usage for Prevention of Leptospirosis among Farmers and Reasons for Failure to Use Chemoprophylaxis: A Descriptive Study from Southern Sri Lanka |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 |
description |
Background. Leptospirosis causes substantial morbidity and mortality in Sri Lanka. Health authorities have implemented a chemoprophylaxis programme for prevention of disease for farmers who are at a high risk of leptospirosis. Only 39% of general population is aware of chemoprophylaxis. Awareness on chemoprophylaxis and its usage among the risk population and the reasons for non-usage was uncertain. Our aim was to assess the chemoprophylaxis usage for prevention of leptospirosis among farmers and reasons for failure to use such preventive strategy. Methods. Cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on farmers in community setting in Galle District. Multi-stage cluster sampling method was used. Out of the seventeen “Ministry of Health” (MOH) divisions within the Galle district, nine divisions were randomly selected and, subsequently, two subdivisions (“Public Health Midwife” divisions) were randomly selected from each MOH division. From each PHM division (total of 18), a cluster who does farming as the main source of income was selected. From these farmers, details on demographics, knowledge on leptospirosis and knowledge and practice on chemoprophylaxis usage were obtained through an interviewer administered open-ended questionnaire. From those who have not properly taken chemoprophylaxis, the reasons for non-usage were explored by semistructured interviews. Results. We recruited 319 (77%-males) farmers to the study. Eighteen (5.6%) have already had leptospirosis. Majority (86.8%) of farmers were aware that doxycycline can be used to prevent the disease occurrence. Only 31% knew about correct recommendations of chemoprophylaxis usage adopted by the national guidelines. Only 28.5% (91) used doxycycline prophylaxis. Out of those, only 60 farmers (65.9%) continued the prophylaxis throughout the contact and followed national recommendations. Themes responsible for non-usage were elicited such as lack of awareness of chemoprophylaxis usage, false sense of security from the disease by perceived “immunity” due to ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
C. L. Fonseka B. N. Vidanapathirana C. M. de Silva A. A. B. B. Athukorala P. R. Goonawardena A. P. Karunathilake I. H. Rajapakse A. S. Dissanayake |
author_facet |
C. L. Fonseka B. N. Vidanapathirana C. M. de Silva A. A. B. B. Athukorala P. R. Goonawardena A. P. Karunathilake I. H. Rajapakse A. S. Dissanayake |
author_sort |
C. L. Fonseka |
title |
Doxycycline Usage for Prevention of Leptospirosis among Farmers and Reasons for Failure to Use Chemoprophylaxis: A Descriptive Study from Southern Sri Lanka |
title_short |
Doxycycline Usage for Prevention of Leptospirosis among Farmers and Reasons for Failure to Use Chemoprophylaxis: A Descriptive Study from Southern Sri Lanka |
title_full |
Doxycycline Usage for Prevention of Leptospirosis among Farmers and Reasons for Failure to Use Chemoprophylaxis: A Descriptive Study from Southern Sri Lanka |
title_fullStr |
Doxycycline Usage for Prevention of Leptospirosis among Farmers and Reasons for Failure to Use Chemoprophylaxis: A Descriptive Study from Southern Sri Lanka |
title_full_unstemmed |
Doxycycline Usage for Prevention of Leptospirosis among Farmers and Reasons for Failure to Use Chemoprophylaxis: A Descriptive Study from Southern Sri Lanka |
title_sort |
doxycycline usage for prevention of leptospirosis among farmers and reasons for failure to use chemoprophylaxis: a descriptive study from southern sri lanka |
publisher |
Hindawi Limited |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/2917154 https://doaj.org/article/90a41a63244149fcafb5064e6f322a36 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Journal of Tropical Medicine, Vol 2019 (2019) |
op_relation |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2019/2917154 https://doaj.org/toc/1687-9686 https://doaj.org/toc/1687-9694 1687-9686 1687-9694 doi:10.1155/2019/2917154 https://doaj.org/article/90a41a63244149fcafb5064e6f322a36 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/2917154 |
container_title |
Journal of Tropical Medicine |
container_volume |
2019 |
container_start_page |
1 |
op_container_end_page |
6 |
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1766346643704119296 |