Background

Lassa fever is a highly infectious viral illness transmitted through fluids and secretions infected rodent, Mastomys natalensis. The study aimed to explore the awareness, knowledge, and preventive practices related to Lassa fever in order to improve prevention efforts for this infectious disease.

Methods

The study was a cross-sectional study of 414 participants, selected by consecutive non-probability sampling with an interviewer-administered questionnaire used during a medical outreach in Mbasur, a rural community in Gboko, Benue State. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 23 and statistical significance was set at P <0.05.

Results

Most of the participants, 215(52%) were aged between 20-39 years and female, 242(58.5%). Most, 280(67.6%) were married, attained secondary education, 256(61.8%) and were farmers 346(83.6%). Only 106(25.6%) were aware of the disease and out of these, 72(67.9%) had their sources of information from mass media. Among the 106 individuals aware of Lassa fever, 100 (94.3%) consumed rats as a delicacy, 57 (53.8%) exhibited poor knowledge, and 63 (59.4%) demonstrated good preventive practices. Good knowledge of the disease was significantly associated with being single (p=0.019) and not consuming rodents as a delicacy (p<0.001). There was also a statistically significant association between poor knowledge of Lassa fever and poor preventive practices (p<0.001).

Conclusion

Lassa fever awareness, knowledge and preventive practices was poor in the rural community. The main source of information about the disease was mass media. It is recommended that awareness campaigns should be scaled up by using direct health talks in rural communities and not depend only on mass media.