Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAPs) of Healthcare Workers towards MERS-CoV Infection at PHCs in Madinah, KSA during Hajj 1440, 2019

Mariam Eid Alanzi¹, Mona Ali H Albalawi², Saeed Kabrah³, Yasmeen Talal Aljehani⁴, Ahmed M. Okashah⁵, Zohoor Dahi E Aljohani⁶, Rehab Ismail H Alribyawi⁷, Sultan Ahmed H Alluqmany⁸, Khalid Eid Alanzi⁹, Nusaybah Eid Alanazi¹⁰, Rehab A. Eltahlawi^{11, 12}, Mohamed Abdel-Haleem¹³, Amr El-Dardear¹⁴ and Salah Mohamed El Sayed^{15, 16,}

¹Family Medicine Program, Ministry of Health, Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, Saudi Arabia

²Family Medicine Senior Registrar, Public Health Section, Ministry of Health, Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia

³Laboratory Medicine Department, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia

⁴Consultant Family Medicine and Director of Research and Studies, Department of Health Affairs, Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia

⁵Consultant Clinical Immuonologist and Academic Affairs Director, Ministry of Health, Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, Saudi Arabia

⁶Family medicine Senior Registrar , Public health Section, Ministry of Health , Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia

⁷Durrat Al-Madinah Primary Health Care Center, Ministry of Health, Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia

⁸Health Control Center at Prince Mohammad Bin Abdulaziz International Airport, Ministry of Health, Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia

⁹Medical Student, Alexandria Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Egypt

¹⁰Medical Student at Al-Rayyan Colleges, Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, Saudi Arabia

¹¹Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Zagazig University, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig, Egypt

¹²Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Taibah College of Medicine,Taibah University, Saudi Arabia

¹³Department of ear, Nose and Throat, Faculty of Medicine, Taibah University, Saudi Arabia

¹⁴Department of Pediatrics, Taibah Faculty of Medicine, Taibah University, Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, Saudi Arabia

¹⁵Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Taibah Faculty of Medicine, Taibah University, Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, Saudi Arabia

¹⁶Department of Medical, Sohag Faculty of Medicine, Sohag University, Egypt

Cite this paper:
Mariam Eid Alanzi, Mona Ali H Albalawi, Saeed Kabrah, Yasmeen Talal Aljehani, Ahmed M. Okashah, Zohoor Dahi E Aljohani, Rehab Ismail H Alribyawi, Sultan Ahmed H Alluqmany, Khalid Eid Alanzi, Nusaybah Eid Alanazi, Rehab A. Eltahlawi, Mohamed Abdel-Haleem, Amr El-Dardear and Salah Mohamed El Sayed. Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAPs) of Healthcare Workers towards MERS-CoV Infection at PHCs in Madinah, KSA during Hajj 1440, 2019. American Journal of Microbiological Research. 2019; 7(4):122-129. doi: 10.12691/ajmr-7-4-4

Abstract

This research study aims at investigating knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAPs) of healthcare workers towards the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), also known as camel flu, caused by the MERS-CoV coronavirus. The present study focuses on the Hajj season in 2019 in the city of Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah in Saudi Arabia as it is one of the most beloved cities for Muslim pilgrims who keep visiting its famous and lovely prophetic Mosque (Al-Masjid Al-Nabawi). For that, almost 500.000 visitors come to Al-Madinah everyday. Most of the year, the prophetic Masjid is crowded from inside and the crowdedness expands to include the mosque’s piazzas and even the streets outside the masjid. Unfortunately, overcrowdedness is a risk factor for transmitting many serious respiratory diseases as MERS-CoV. Also, this study is an effort to obtain significant insights and to evaluate the health practices among healthcare workers particularly in the primary healthcare domain. Data collection involves a survey questionnaire distributed to all healthcare workers participating in care delivery during the Hajj season 1440 hijri calendar (2019 Gregorian calendar). Participants were medical students, physicians and nurses at Taibah University, King Fahd hospital and primary healthcare centers (PHCs) taking into account the work experience duration and the study level. MERS-CoV viruses are enveloped RNA viruses that fall into six strains. MERS-CoV viruses cause zoonotic diseases belonging to the gamma genus of corona viruses. MERS CoV infection may be caused by droplet, close patients contact and exposure to camels. March–May period is the season of greatest disease transmission. Incubation period is 3-4 days with respiratory and renal symptoms and subclinical infection. The questionnaire investigated all this basic medical knowledge about MERS-CoV. Responses collected from the questionnaire were analyzed using SPSS where percent reliability was calculated. Results revealed that the current knowledge of health care personnel needs to be augmented and updated for improving the common goal of declining the transmission rates of MERS-CoV.

Keywords:
MERS-CoV KAPs primary care epidemiology educational intervention questionnaire

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