Knowledge and attitude toward Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus among heath colleges' students in Najran, Saudi Arabia

Background: Najran area, Saudi Arabia, has experienced infection of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus. Knowledge towards prevention and control of the disease is necessary among the health colleges' students as they are at high risk of newly emerging diseases. The present study aimed to investigate the knowledge and attitude of undergraduate health colleges’ students in Najran University, Saudi Arabia towards MERS coronavirus.Methods: A structured questionnaire on MERS was developed by the researcher with the help of existing literatures to cover the survey objectives. From five health colleges, 418 health colleges’ students were invited to fill the questionnaire from February 2017 to April 2017 and statistic was used to summarize the responses. Results: The students were highly aware about the clinical aspects of MERS including diagnosis, treatment, transmission and preventive measures. However, there were statistically significant differences (p<0.05) among health colleges’ students regarding their understanding of the basic science of the virus. The students showed positive attitude about MERS and the majority indicated that they are in need for further education about it. Conclusions: The students were knowledgeable about the clinical aspects of MERS but were lacking background awareness in the basic sciences and there is need for further education and training programs.

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Questionnaire-based analysis of infection prevention and control in healthcare facilities in Saudi Arabia in regards to Middle East Respiratory Syndrome

Journal of Infection and Public Health ◽

10.1016/j.jiph.2016.11.008 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 10 (5) ◽

pp. 548-563 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Ali A. Rabaan ◽

Hatem M. Alhani ◽

Ali M. Bazzi ◽

Shamsah H. Al-Ahmed

Keyword(s):

Saudi Arabia ◽

Middle East ◽

Prevention And Control ◽

Infection Prevention ◽

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome ◽

Infection Prevention And Control ◽

Healthcare Facilities ◽

And Control

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Modeling the spread of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus in Saudi Arabia

Statistical Methods in Medical Research ◽

10.1177/0962280217746442 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 27 (7) ◽

pp. 1968-1978 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

Qianying Lin ◽

Alice PY Chiu ◽

Shi Zhao ◽

Daihai He

Keyword(s):

Saudi Arabia ◽

Middle East ◽

Transmission Rate ◽

Scientific Evidence ◽

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome ◽

Time Varying ◽

Dromedary Camels ◽

Primary Host ◽

East Region ◽

And Control

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus has been persistent in the Middle East region since 2012. Abundant scientific evidence showed that dromedary camels are the primary host of the virus. Majority of human cases (i.e., 75% or 88%) are due to human-to-human transmission, while the others are due to camel-to-human transmission. Mathematical modeling of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus camel-to-camel transmission was lacking. Using the plug-and-play likelihood-based inference framework, we fitted a susceptible-exposed-infectious-recovered-susceptible model of camels to the reported human cases with a constant proportion of human cases from camels (i.e., either 25% or 12%). We considered two scenarios: (i) the transmission rate among camels is time-varying with a constant spill-over rate from camels to human or (ii) the spill-over rate is time-varying with a constant transmission rate among camels. Our estimated loss-of-immunity rate and prevalence of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infections among camels largely matched with previous serological or virological studies, shedding light on this issue. We recommended including dromedary camels in animal surveillance and control of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus in Saudi Arabia which could help reduce their sporadic introductions to humans.

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