Knowledge, attitude and perceptions about Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) among occupationally high-risk healthcare professionals of Pakistan

BACKGROUND: Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), a tropically neglected infectious disease caused by Nairovirus, is endemic in low middle-income countries like Pakistan. Emergency health care professionals (HCPs) are at risk of contracting nosocomial transmission of CCHF. We, therefore, aim to analyze the knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions (KAP) of at-risk physicians, nurses, and pharmacists in Pakistan and the factors associated with good KAP. METHOD: A validated questionnaire (Cronbach's alpha 0.71) was used to collect data from HCPs in two CCHF endemic metropolitan cities of Pakistan by employing a cross-sectional study design. For data analysis percentages, chi-square test and Spearman correlation were applied by using SPSS version 22. RESULTS: Of the 478 participants, 56% (n = 268) were physicians, 37.4% (n = 179) were nurses, and 6.5% (n = 31) were pharmacists. The proportion of HCPs with good knowledge, attitude, and perception scores was 54.3%, 81, and 69%, respectively. Being a physician, having more work experience, having a higher age, working in tertiary care settings, were key factors for higher knowledge (p < 0.001). The correlation coefficient showed significant positive correlation between attitude- perception (r = 0.560, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: We have observed average knowledge of HCPs. Therefore, we recommend time to time education campaigns and workshops in highly endemic CCHF regions to be launched by health ministries and HCPs, in particular nurses, encouraged to follow authentic academic sources of information to prevent nosocomial transmission.