Assessment of Student’s Knowledge in High Institute of Medical Technology/Abuslim about Tuberculosis

Hamida Amer^1* and Amal Ouhida^{2 *}Correspondence: Hamida Amer, Department of Medical Laboratory, Abuslim Higher Institute of Health Sciences, Tripoli, Libya, Email:

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About the Study

Tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis typically attacks the lungs, but can also affect other parts of the body (Rieder HL, et al., 2009).

It is estimated that between the years 2000 and 2010, eight to nine million new cases emerged each year. Approximately 1.5 million people die from the disease each year. In adults, tuberculosis is the second leading cause of death due to an infectious disease (after Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS)), with 95% of deaths occurring in low-income countries. Tuberculosis is a major problem of children in poor countries where it kills over 100,000 children each year (Varaine F, et al., 2017; di Palma S, 2013).

Tuberculosis is an airborne disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis). M. tuberculosis and seven very closely related mycobacterial species (M. bovis, M. africanum, M. microti, M. caprae, M. pinnipedii, M. canetti and M. mungi) together comprise what is known as the M. tuberculosis complex (Rieder HL, et al., 2009).

The human tubercle bacillus (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) is the main cause of tuberculosis all over the world. A slightly different type of Tuberculosis, Mycobacterium africanum, occurs in Africa. The only important difference is that it is often resistant to thioacetazone (Rieder HL, et al., 2009).

The bovine bacillus (Mycobacterium bovis) at one time caused much infection in cattle in Europe and the Americas. Infection was often passed on to man through contaminated milk. Bovine Tuberculosis in milk can be killed by boiling the milk, and bovine tuberculosis rarely occurs where this is the practice (Varaine F, et al., 2017).

Diagnosing and initiating effective treatment in a patient early in the course of their Tuberculosis disease, before they can infect many people, is considered the most effective preventive measure against Tuberculosis (Packe GE and Innes JA, 1988).

The procedure included the following:

• The sample of 140 students was selected from the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth class from the medical departments in high Institute of Medical Technology/Abuslim for the period from March 2019 to June 2019 (Iseman MD, 2000).

• The questionnaire was designed to achieve the aims of study, it was consisting of many parts, the first content the demographic information, the second part include knowledge of students about categories that infected with tuberculosis (Tables 1 and 2).

Table 1: Demographic information

Table 2: Knowledge of students about categories that infected with tuberculosis

The third part include the student knowledge of the signs of disease, the fourth content methods of transmission of disease, and the last part include the student information about the methods of protection of tuberculosis disease (Ait-Khaled N and Enarson DA, 2003) (Tables 3-5).

Table 3: Students knowledge of the signs of disease

Table 4: Methods of transmission of disease

Table 5: Student information about the methods of protection of tuberculosis disease

• Data were analysed by using frequency distribution, percentage to answer the level of (Yes/No).

The most of the students were aged between (19-20) years and the highest of them were female (56.3%) and most of them were single (85.7%). Knowledge of students about categories that infected with tuberculosis the most of student answered Tuberculosis infects people whose have respiratory disease (89.3%). Student knowledge of the signs of disease the most student answered Tuberculosis patient has headache (73.6%), while student answered the Tuberculosis patient has Pain chest (10.7%). The most students answered Tuberculosis transmission through food, diary and dairy products (73.6%), while (14.2%) answered transmission of Tuberculosis from mother to foetus. Student answered Tuberculosis can transmission through sneezing and coughing from infected people to healthy people (41.4%).

The most student answered for protection from Tuberculosis avoid smoking (85.7%), while (17.9%) answered take preventive measures when contact with infected person.

Conclusion

The main objective of this study is to identify the students’ knowledge about tuberculosis disease. This study found the insufficient Tuberculosis knowledge in a sample of students, poor knowledge about Tuberculosis. They must improve knowledge about Tuberculosis, because these students could be exposed to the Mycobacterium strains during their training activities or when they are employed in private and public health care settings.

Acknowledgments

We thank Abuslim higher institute of health sciences for funding this study.

References

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