Knowledge, attitude and practices related to dengue in rural and slum areas of Delhi after the dengue epidemic of 1996.

To assess the knowledge and attitudes about dengue and practice of prevention followed by the residents of a rural area and an urban resettlement colony of East Delhi, an interview based cross sectional KAP study was undertaken in Jan 97 to Feb 97, a few months after the dengue epidemic in rural area and urban areas of East Delhi. A pre-structured and pre-tested format containing the relevant questions was administered to the subjects. A total of 687 subjects (334 rural and 353 urban) were interviewed. Nearly four fifth (82.3%) of these were aware of Dengue. Audiovisual media was the most common source of information in both the areas. Knowledge about the disease was fair to good. Fever was the commonest symptom of the disease known to 92% urban and 83% rural respondents followed by symptoms of bleeding and headache. Mosquito was known to spread the disease to 71% rural and 89% urban respondents. More than two third respondents in urban and two fifth in rural areas had used some method of mosquito control or personal protection during the epidemic.