SWINEFLU AND COMMUNITY HEALTH EDUCATION AWARENESS IN RURAL POPULATION OF SOUTH INDIA
Influenza is an acute respiratory tract infection caused by influenza virus of which these are type A,B and C all known pandemics were caused by influenza A stains. The disease is characterized by sudden onset of chills, malarial fever muscular pain and cough [1]. A influenza A viral stains implicated in 2009 flu pandemic in human was earlier referred to as swine flu because initial testing showed many of genes in virus were similar to influenza viruses normally occurring in north American swine. A cross sectional study was conducted among rural population of South India using a pre-tested, pre-designed and standard questionnaire to collect data and it is analysed using suitable statistical methods. In our present study among the 200 households, 96% of them were aware swine flu is a communicable disease and 78% of them said, the illness starts with fever and cough. Majority of the participants 89%, 94% and 75% of the individuals knows that there is treatment, investigation and vaccine available for the swine flu illness respectively. Almost 91% of them knew that the swine flu is preventable and knowledge regarding the methods of prevention is by mask (29%), personal hygiene (59%) and 17% by avoiding crowded areas respectively. Our study highlights that most of the participants are aware of the swineflu illness. The knowledge regarding the mode of spread, signs & symptoms and preventive strategies has to be imparted to the community through health education programmes