https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0010821
Sri Lanka is considered an endemic country for leishmaniasis; yet the knowledge regarding the disease and the vector is poor among the community. The NIH – TMRC research group of the Parasitic Diseases Research Unit (PDRU) of the Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo conducted an island wide survey to assess the knowledge on the disease and the vector among individuals from selected high-risk areas of the country. The survey was done in all 9 provinces of Sri Lanka and included 301 confirmed cutaneous leishmaniasis patients and 2791 healthy individuals as controls (1:10 case: control ratio) from same areas. A validated questionnaire was used.
The degree of awareness was significantly different between the cases and controls, when it came to more general information e.g., disease name, vector name, symptoms, prevention methods etc.
Percentage of cases who knew that the disease is curable (91.7%) were significantly high when compared to controls who shared the same view (74.6%). Only 5 (1.7%) cases and 25 (0.9%) controls acknowledged that they could identify a sandfly and only 5 (1.7%) cases and 29 (1.1%) controls said that they are aware of the breeding places of vector. These figures were not significantly different among cases and controls. Over 90% of both cases and controls did not know the bite times of vector, but the percentage of cases who knew the details of bite time (3.3%) were significantly higher when compared to the controls (1.2%). Knowledge regarding control of vector in the study population is poor with over 90% of cases and controls were unaware of the methods. It was obvious that although majority of this study population is aware of more general information about the disease and the vector, the detailed information i.e., vector breeding places, vector biting time etc., has not reached this community. The source of information was also different in cases than in controls. The majority of the cases (52.2%) said the source of information on the disease is from hospitals, healthcare workers, while the major source of information for the controls were friends, neighbors or coworkers.
These results confirm the importance of educating the community that will facilitate leishmania control efforts. This could be done through television programs (interviews, documentaries), social media and print media remain as untapped sources for effective communication regarding leishmaniasis, particularly related to vector breeding sites and preventive measures. The results were published in the journal PLoS NTD in 2022.
