Publication

Abstract : Chikungunya struck Kerala in a devastating form in the years 2006 and 2007 and its after effects continued to 2008. In May 2008, a post epidemic study of the awareness of vector habits and prevalence of the vectors was done. A cross sectional study was conducted in a randomly selected Panchayat affected by Chikungunya in a rural area of Kerala, India. 93.3% respondents were aware that mosquitoes spread Chikungunya though 31.3% knew the type of mosquito that spreads it. 69% knew that the vector breeds in artificial collections of water. Although three-fourths (73.6%) had good knowledge, only 39% had actually took control measures. Four of the six wards were high risk areas as per House Index and Breteau Index. All the larval samples collected were identified as Aedes albopictus. About 94.3% of the respondents used one or the other measure of personal protection against mosquito. An analysis of the high risk areas showed a significant association with education (p < .001) and information on control measures (p < .01). It therefore appears that integrated vector control is the key though converting vector control knowledge into practice by influencing human behaviour is the challenge.