Table 3. Knowledge of causes, prevention methods, and treatment of typhoid fever among survey respondents, Neno District, Malawi, September 2010.
| Total | Attended "Typhoid Talk" | Did not attend "Typhoid Talk" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (N = 202) | (N = 111) | (N = 87) | ||||
| n | (%) | n | (%) | n | (%) | |
| Causes of typhoid fever | ||||||
| Poor hygiene* | 155 | (77) | 96 | (86) | 59 | (68) |
| Drinking unsafe water | 98 | (49) | 60 | (54) | 38 | (44) |
| Consuming unsafe food | 50 | (25) | 33 | (30) | 17 | (20) |
| Flies | 15 | (7) | 11 | (10) | 4 | (5) |
| Unwashed fruits and vegetables | 12 | (6) | 6 | (5) | 6 | (7) |
| Person-to-person spread | 1 | (1) | 1 | (1) | 0 | (0) |
| Omens | 0 | (0) | 0 | (0) | 0 | (0) |
| People from other tribes | 0 | (0) | 0 | (0) | 0 | (0) |
| Other | 17 | (8) | 7 | (6) | 10 | (11) |
| Don't Know* | 25 | (12) | 6 | (5) | 15 | (17) |
| Methods of preventing typhoid fever | ||||||
| Cannot prevent | 2 | (1) | 0 | (0) | 2 | (2) |
| Boil or treat water | 137 | (68) | 81 | (73) | 55 | (63) |
| Wash hands | 105 | (52) | 58 | (52) | 47 | (54) |
| Clean cooking utensils and vessels* | 76 | (38) | 50 | (45) | 24 | (28) |
| Cook food thoroughly | 68 | (34) | 36 | (32) | 32 | (37) |
| Wash vegetables and fruits | 35 | (17) | 15 | (14) | 20 | (23) |
| Other | 21 | (10) | 13 | (12) | 8 | (9) |
| Don't Know* | 10 | (5) | 1 | (1) | 7 | (8) |
| Treatment of typhoid fever | ||||||
| Do not treat | 0 | (0) | 0 | (0) | 0 | (0) |
| Go to clinic or hospital | 197 | (98) | 109 | (98) | 85 | (98) |
| Home remedy | 4 | (2) | 2 | (2) | 2 | (2) |
| Traditional healer | 0 | (0) | 0 | (0) | 0 | (0) |
| Other | 3 | (1) | 3 | (3) | 0 | (0) |
| Don't Know | 2 | (1) | 0 | (0) | 1 | (1) |
*P < 0.05 by Rao-Scott design-adjusted chi-square test accounting for clustering by village: Causes of typhoid fever: poor hygiene (p = 0.0155), don’t know (p = 0.0330); methods of preventing typhoid fever: cleaning cooking utensils and vessels (p = 0.0261), don’t know (p = 0.0254).