Table 3.
Knowledge, attitudes, and practices with respect to Ebola.
| Survey item | n (%) |
|---|---|
| Knowledge and beliefs | |
| Transmission modes | |
| Ebola can be prevented by avoiding contact with:bodily fluids of an infected person | 230 (81) |
| Ebola can be prevented by avoiding contact with:the corpse of someone who died of Ebola | 249 (87) |
| I wash my hands more often since the Ebola outbreak began | 175 (61) |
| Misconceptions | |
| Ebola is transmitted in the ambient air | 56 (20) |
| Ebola can be prevented by avoiding mosquito bites | 71 (25) |
| Ebola can be prevented by bathing in hot and salty water | 49 (17) |
| Ebola comprehensive knowledgea | 65 (25) |
| What is the origin of Ebola? (open ended question) | |
| Wild animals from forest, monkeys, bats | 152 (53) |
| Witchcraft, magic, cat | 18 (6.3) |
| Hygiene | 7 (2.4) |
| Mosquito | 1 (<1) |
| Political fabrication | 1 (<1) |
| I don’t know | 108 (38) |
| Can traditional healers cure Ebola? | |
| Yes | 49 (17) |
| No | 196 (69) |
| I don’t know | 41 (14) |
| Attitudes | |
| Affective response: worried about Ebola | 256 (91) |
| Resistance to control efforts | |
| Would not bring infected family member to ETU | 45 (16) |
| Would hide infected family member from authorities | 56 (20) |
| Would not permit official team to bury infected deceased family member | 30 (11) |
| One or more resistant attitudes | 120 (40) |
| Practices | |
| Do you eat meat from wild animals? | |
| Yes | 112 (39) |
| No | 172 (61) |
aComprehensive knowledge was defined as correctly identifying three main modes of avoiding Ebola transmission (avoiding infected body fluids, avoiding infected corpses, washing hands) and correctly rejecting three misconceptions (transmitted in ambient air, by mosquitos, cured with warm salt baths) [24].