OBJECTIVES

Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), a tropically neglected infectious disease caused by Nairovirus, is endemic in low middle-income countries like Pakistan. Emergency health care professionals (HCPs) are at risk of contracting CCHF nosocomial transmission. We therefore aim to analyze the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions (KAP) of at-risk physicians, nurses and pharmacists in Pakistan and the factors associated with good KAP.

METHODS :

A pre-designed validated questionnaire (Cronbach's alpha 0.71) was used to collect data from high-risk HCPs in two CCHF endemic metropolitan cities of Pakistan by cross sectional study design. For data analysis percentages, chi-square test and Spearman correlation were employed by using SPSS version 26.

RESULTS

Of the 478 participants, 56% (n=268) were physicians, 37.4% (n=179) were nurses, and 6.5% (n=31) were pharmacists. The proportion of HCPs with good knowledge, attitude and perception scores was 54.3%, 81% and 69% respectively. Being a physician, having more work experience, having a higher age, working in tertiary care settings, were key factors for higher knowledge (p < 0.001). The correlation coefficient showed significant positive correlation between attitude- perception (r = 0.560, p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Professional educational campaigns and workshops, in highly CCHF endemic regions, needs to be launched by health ministry and HCPs, in particular nurses, encouraged to follow authentic academic sources of information to prevent nosocomial transmission.