[Sociocultural aspects of epilepsy in secondary school students in Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso)].

In Black Africa, epilepsy is usually affected by sociocultural attitudes. A school survey concerning epilepsy was conducted in February 1999 in Bobo-Dioulasso, an Islamic region. Knowledge and attitudes towards epilepsy in secondary school students was evaluated through focus group discussions done in secondary schools. Epilepsy was supposed to be a chronic disease attributed to brain damage, or spiritual. The students usually described the "Grand Mal" generalized tonic-clonic form of epilepsy. Epilepsy is believed to have hereditary causes and the students believed it to be contagious through saliva and physical contact. For students, epilepsy cannot be cured. When a treatment was proposed, only traditional medicine was supposed to be competent. If burns occur in the course of the disease, the prognosis is supposed to be bad. Generally fear and mistrust are dominant feelings among students despite the fact they are literate urban population. Their belief in the contagiousness of epilepsy could be a major reason for discriminating against an epileptic person. Our data suggest that there is a need to make additional efforts in order to increase the knowledge of the general population and the level of formal education. Poor knowledge and lack of information explained secondary school students attitudes towards epilepsy in Bobo-Dioulasso.