International Journal of Human and Health Sciences Vol. 02 No. 04 October’18 220 Original article: Tuberculosis related knowledge among the high school students in a selected area of Bangladesh Karim F Abstract Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the major global public health challenge. In some countries, it is a re-emerging infectious disease. This descriptive type of cross sectional study was carried out among the 200 high school students in a selected semi urban area under Dhaka division of Bangladesh to evaluate their tuberculosis related knowledge. Data were collected by face to face interview of the respondents and analyzed by using SPSS version 16. In this study 53% respondents were male and others were female. Mean age of the respondents was 13.5 years. Among the respondents all of them heard the term tuberculosis. About 36% respondents told that they obtained some information about tuberculosis from television, 29% told book, 17.5 % told radio, 12.5% told newspaper. Majority of the respondents told that tuberculosis is a serious disease whereas 7% told that it is not very serious disease. Majority of the respondents told that cough lasts more than three weeks is the symptom of tuberculosis. More than half of the respondents told that tuberculosis can be transmitted by infected person to person. Among the respondents only 42% told that tuberculosis must be treated by medicine prescribed by doctor. Others (40.5%) said that it is cured by herbal or homeopathy treatment. About 12.5% respondents told that tuberculosis is non curable and 05% told that no treatment is required for this type of disease. About 40% respondents told that they do not know how to prevent tuberculosis disease, 22.5% told that avoidance of TB patients can prevent TB infection. From this study findings it may be concluded that tuberculosis related knowledge among the respondents was not adequate. Keywords: tuberculosis, knowledge, high school children Correspondence to: Dr. Farzana Karim, Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatric Dentistry Marks Medical College (Dental Unit), Mirpur - 14, Dhaka, Bangladesh. E-mail: farzanakarim25@ gmail.com Introduction Tuberculosis (TB) is a wide-reaching public health issue. It is one of the uppermost 10 reasons of death worldwide.1 It is a specific disease caused by infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the tubercle bacillus, which can affect almost any tissue or organ of the body, the most common location of the disease being the lungs. 2 According to the World Health Organization, more than 8.8 million people worldwide are infected with tuberculosis, and almost 1.6 million people per year die from tuberculosis. 3 TB is completely curable if it is diagnosed and treated properly at early stage. Common symptoms of tuberculosis are cough (2-3 weeks or more), coughing up blood, chest pains, fever, night sweats, feeling weak and tired, losing weight without trying, decreased or no appetite etc. Symptoms may vary depends on what kind of TB occur. In some cases people do not face any kind of sign and symptoms of TB and this is called inactive stage of TB. These people get affected by the disease when their immune system become deteriorated by diabetes, kidney disease, HIV infection etc. 4-7 Students are the future of the nation. Many of them become the upcoming leaders of the country. Disease related knowledge is one of the powerful part of life. These knowledge encourage people to contribute to build up a healthy, disease free nation. The aim of this study was to investigate the tuberculosis related knowledge among the high school children in a selected area of Bangladesh. Methodology This was a descriptive type of cross sectional study. The study was carried out from August to November 2016. The study population were the high school students in a selected semi urban area under Dhaka Division, Bangladesh. Inclusion International Journal of Human and Health Sciences Vol. 02 No. 04 October’18 Page : 220-223 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.31344/ijhhs.v2i4.59 221 International Journal of Human and Health Sciences Vol. 02 No. 04 October’18 criteria were high school students who had agreed to participate and given verbal consent to the study. The students who were not willing to participate were excluded. The sample size was 200. The sample was collected by non-probability purposive sampling. A structured questionnaire was developed based on the objectives and variables of the study. It was finalized after modification and correction based on the findings of questionnaire pretesting. Before collection of data permission was taken from the respondents. The purpose of the study was explained to the respondents prior to administering the interview. With the consent of the respondents data were collected by face to face interview by using Bengali version questionnaire. The privacy of the respondents was maintained strictly. This study was not involved any physical, mental and social risk of the respondents. After collection of information through questionnaire, the data were coded, entered and analyzed in a computer. Data analysis was done using statistical package for social sciences or SPSS version 16. Result In this study among 200 respondents 53% were male and rest were female. The age of the respondents ranged from 12 to 15 years (Mean 13.5). Most of them belongs to middle class socio economic condition. Among 200 respondents all of them are heard the term tuberculosis. Figure 1 shows the distribution of the respondents according to their sex Table 1: Distribution of the respondents according to get the source of TB information Source of TB information Frequency Percentage Television 72 36 Radio 35 17.5 Book 58 29 Newspaper 25 12.5 Family members 10 05 Total 200 100 Table 1 shows that among the respondents 36% respondents told that they acquire knowledge about tuberculosis from television, 29% told book,17.5 % told radio, 12.5% told newspaper and only 5% told from family members. Table 2: Distribution of the respondents according to their opinion about seriousness of TB Knowledge about seriousness of TB Frequency Percentage Very serious 116 58 Not very serious 14 07 Somewhat serious 70 35 Total 200 100 Table 2 shows that 58% respondents told that tuberculosis is a very serious disease whereas 7% told that it is not very serious disease. Figure 2 shows the distribution of the respondents according to their knowledge about sign and symptoms of TB *multiple answer Table 3: Distribution of the respondents according to knowledge about mode of transmission of TB Mode of transmission of TB Frequency Percentage Bacteria 26 13 Virus 13 6.5 Infected person to person 112 56 Infected blood transfusion 44 22 Un boiled milk 05 2.5 Total 200 100 Table 3 shows that among the respondents 56% told that Tuberculosis can be transmitted by infected person to person, 22 % told by infected blood transfusion, 13% told by bacteria,6.5% told by virus and 2.5% told by un boiled milk. Table 4: Distribution of the respondents according to knowledge about treatment of TB Treatment of TB Frequency Percentage No treatment is required 10 05 Medicine prescribed by doctor 84 42 It is non curable 25 12.5 Homeopathy treatment 50 25 Herbal treatment 31 15.5 Total 200 100 Table 4 shows that among the respondents 42% told that tuberculosis must be treated by medicine prescribed by doctor, 25% told homeopathy treatment, 15.5% told by herbal treatment. About 12.5% respondents told that tuberculosis is non curable and 05% told that no treatment is required for this type of disease. Table 5: Distribution of the respondents according to knowledge about prevention of TB Prevention of TB Frequency Percentage Avoidance of TB patients 45 22.5 By taking a healthy diet 12 06 By using a mask while handling an infected person 38 19 By living in ventilated houses 25 12.5 Do not know 80 40 Total 200 100 Table 5 shows that 22.5% respondents told that avoidance of TB patients can prevent TB infection, 06% told by taking a healthy diet , 19% told by using a mask while handling an infected person, 12.5% told by living in ventilated houses and International Journal of Human and Health Sciences Vol. 02 No. 04 October’18 222 40% told that they do not know how to prevent tuberculosis disease. DISCUSSION According to WHO Global TB Report 2016, Bangladesh is one of the world’s 30 high TB burden countries with annual occurrence of 362,000 new Tuberculosis cases. About 73,000 people die annually due to Tuberculosis. 2 Many people of our country are not properly knowledgeable about the seriousness of TB disease. They have some wrong conception about this. This study was conducted with a view to assess the tuberculosis related knowledge among the high school students. In this study among 200 respondents 53% were male and rest were female. The age of the respondents ranged from 12 to 15 years. Most of them belongs to middle class socio economic condition. Among 200 respondents all of them are heard the term tuberculosis. Near about similar findings were found from Yousif et al and abebe et al.8,9 Respondents of this study acquired tuberculosis related information from television more commonly , similar findings were reported in a study done by Mushfiq et al.10 This result seems that mass media plays an important role to spread any kind of information among general population. Others gained TB information from book, newspapers and family members. Most of the respondents told that tuberculosis is a serious disease which was similar to a study done by Agboatwalla 11 wheras only few numbers told that it is not very serious disease. Majority of the respondents told that main symptom of TB is cough more than 3 weeks which was similar to a study done by Mushfiq et al.10 There was a misconception about the transmission of TB infection among the respondents. Only 13.5% knew that it is a bacterial disease and 6.5% told that it is a viral disease. More than half of the respondents told that tuberculosis can be transmitted by infected person to person which was near about similar to a study done by Yadav. 12 Less than half of the respondents believed that TB is cured by medicine prescribed by doctor; rest of them believed homeopathy, herbal remedy are enough for TB cure. Some respondents told that it is a non-curable disease so no treatment is necessary for this. This type of conception may be due to their traditional belief. About 40% respondents told that they do not know how to prevent TB. It is a worrying news for us. Some of them told that avoidance of TB patient can save people to get the disease. Similar report have been found in a study done by Mushfiq et al. 10 Conclusion From this study findings, it reveals that tuberculosis related knowledge among the respondents was not sufficient. Recommendation Public health workers must educate the general people about TB. Health education program should be arranged regularly. 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