INTRODUCTION:

Dengue fever is the common and rapidly spreading mosquito born disease in the tropical and subtropical areas^[1]. It is a viral infection spread by Female Aedes mosquitoes. In most people the infection is mild and passes in about a week without causing any lasting problems. But in rare cases it can be very serious and potentially life threatening^[2].

Dengue fever is characterized by high fever, headache, pain behind the eye, muscle and joint pain, rash, fatigue, Low platelet count, nausea and vomiting^[3]. The world health organization classifies dengue fever hemorrhagic fever in four grades. Grade l and ll represents relatively mild cases without shock whereas grade lll and lV cases are more severe and accompanied by shock^[4].

The main cause of dengue fever, according to the health department, is due to large scale breeding of aedes egypti Mosquitoes in domestic and peri-domestic situations in water storage containers like cement water tanks, barrels etc. And such other containers which are usually not emptied for a long time in addition to discarded materials like coconut shell, tyres, plastic materials which collect rain^[5].

In India dengue fever is endemic in all states^[6]. National vector born disease control programme is one of most Comprehensive and multifaceted public health activities in India including prevention and control of mosquito born^[7]. Integrated disease surveillance programme also helps in disease surveillance and outbreak detection or investigation of dengue fever in the country^[8].

NEED FOR THE STUDY:

Dengue fever is found in tropical and subtropical climates worldwide, mostly in urban and semi urban areas. The global Incidence of dengue fever has grown dramatically in recent decades. About half of the world’s population is now at risk. There are an estimated 390 million dengue fever virus infections per year in globally. Another study on the prevalence of dengue fever estimates that 3.9billion people are at risk of infection with dengue fever virus. Despite a risk of infection existing in 129 countries, 70% of the actual burden is in Asia^[1].

The number of dengue fever cases reported to WHO increased over 15 fold over the last 2 decades, from 5, 05,430 cases in 2000 to over 24,00,138 in 2010 and 33, 12,040 in 2015. Deaths from 2000 to 2015 increased from 960 to more than 4,032. The largest number of dengue fever cases ever reported globally was in 2019. All regions were affected and dengue fever transmission was recorded in Afghanistan for the first time in this year^[1]. A total of 6,196 cases have been reported to date in 2020. This remains higher than the same period in 2018 and 2019. During week 17, 2020, there were 605 cases reported with 0 death, of which 82.6% were hospitalized globally according to WHO^[9].

The estimated number of dengue fever infections among individuals aged 5-45 years from all Indian states in 2017 was 12,991,357 based on constant force of infection models^[10]. A total of 67,377 cases of dengue fever and 48 deaths have been reported from across the country till October in 2019 according to NVBDCP^[11]. Since the 1990’s, epidemics of dengue fever have become more frequent in many parts of India. Over the period 19982009: 82,327 dengue fever cases were reported. During a period 2010-2014: 213,607 cases of dengue fever were observed^[12].

According to data from the NVBDCP Karnataka and Gujarat tops the list of total dengue fever cases in the country. Karnataka had reported 15,232 cases in 2019 till November and Gujarat followed with 14,835 cases in this period. The numbers in these two states are fluctuating with minor changes but it is a fact that these two states are endemic for dengue fever. The number of dengue fever cases in Karnataka has gone up from 3,358 in 2014 to 17,265 in 2017, in 2017 Karnataka was behind Tamilnadu and Kerala that reported 23,294 and 19,973 dengue fever cases, respectively. Karnataka reported 4,427 cases in 2018^[13].

According to Karnataka’s health department data, there has been more than a four- fold rise in dengue fever incidence at 2019 compared to 2018. Till December 11, 2019 16,020 cases were reported and 8,985 of these cases are from BBMP^[13]. Chamarajanagara district had recorded as many as 83 positive cases of dengue fever in 2019 till august, the number has Alarmed authorities in the Chamarajanagara. District health department since the number of cases reported in 2019 is more than 20% higher than those registered in the corresponding year in 2018. Among 83 cases more than 43 cases have been reported in urban^[14]

Dengue fever is a dread disease and is an emerged public health problem. In recent years an urgent need has been appreciated for a vaccine to prevent the morbidity and mortality from this disease in a cost-effective way. Since there is no vaccine available. Vector control is the ideal way to control dengue fever. But vector control methods can be successful with community participation. Several studies recommend that better knowledge of dengue fever leads to better prevention techniques adopted by people to prevent dengue fever. Hence it becomes important to assess the community’s knowledge regarding the disease to improve integrated control measures but also help to create awareness and prevention about dengue disease

OBJECTIVE:

1. To assess the level of knowledge regarding dengue fever among the adults in selected rural area of chamarajanagar

2. To find association between the level of knowledge of the adults regarding dengue fever with their selected demographic variables.

HYPOTHESIS:

1. There will be significant association between the level of knowledge of adult regarding dengue fever with their selected demographic variables.

METHODOLOGY:

Research design:

An Explorative Descriptive Survey method has been adopted

Setting:

The present study was conducted in Haradanahalli village of Chamarajanagar District

Sample and sampling technique:

By simple random sampling technique. 150 adults participated in the study.

Instrument used:

Section 1- Data on demographic variables

It Consist of the following items such as age, caste, educational status, occupation, family income, type of family, history of dengue fever, method of waste disposal and source of information regarding dengue fever.

Section 2: Assessment of knowledge about Dengue fever:

150 adults participated in the study using structured interview technique knowledge about Dengue fever was assessed. It had maximum possible score of 30 and minimum was 0. The score 0 to 13 were categorized as inadequate knowledge, 14 to 21 were categorized as average knowledge and 22 and above were categorized as adequate knowledge.

RESULTS:

Section I: Description of selected personal variables of study subjects

Table 1: Frequency and percentage distribution of adults according to their personal variables. N=150

Sl. No	Variables	Frequency	Percentage
1.	Age in years
	18-27 years	82	54.7
	28-37 years	49	32.7
	38-47 years	16	10.7
	48-57 years	3	2.0
2.	Caste
	Hindu	122	81.3
	Muslim	20	13.3
	Christian	4	2.7
	Others	4	2.7
3.	Education
	Illiterate	23	15.3
	Primary	29	19.3
	High School	46	30.7
	PUC	39	26.0
	Degree and Above	13	8.7
4.	Occupation
	House wife	96	64.0
	Government Job	11	7.3
	Private Job	18	12.0
	Agriculture	25	16.7
5.	Family Income
	Below Rs. 2000	44	29.3
	Rs. 2001-5000	61	40.7
	Rs. 5001-12000	19	12.7
	Rs. 12001 and above	26	17.3
6.	Type of family
	Joint family	67	44.7
	Nuclear family	83	55.3
7.	History of Dengue fever
	Yes	16	10.7
	No	134	89.3
8.	Method of Waste Disposal
	Throwing near house	26	17.3
	Burning	56	37.3
	Burying	11	7.3
	Composting	57	38.0
9.	Source of information
	Health worker	61	40.7
	News paper	38	25.3
	Relatives and friends	23	15.3
	Others	28	18.7

The data presented in the table 1 shows that majority of the adults in the age group between 18 to 27 years. Majority of the Adults were Hindu, belongs to nuclear type of family and family members are less than 4 members more number Adults are housewives and their families had an income of rupees below 5000/- with their education status between 1^st to 10^thstd and their practice method of waste disposal is by burning and composting and source of information about is Health worker

Section II: Description of level of Knowledge scores of adults regarding the Dengue fever:

The total level of knowledge score ranged from 0-30. The level of knowledge scores further arbitrarily divided as inadequate knowledge (0-13), moderate knowledge (13-21) and adequate knowledge (22 and above)

Table 2: Frequency and percentage distribution of adults according to their level of knowledge n=150

Level of knowledge	Frequency	Percentage
a. Inadequate knowledge	92	61.3
b. Moderate knowledge	58	38.7
c. Adequate knowledge	0	0.0

Among 150 participants, the minimum score obtained was 07 and the maximum was 22. 38.7% of participants have moderate knowledge, and 61.3% of participants have inadequate knowledge and majority of the Adults are having inadequate knowledge about Dengue fever.

Table 3: Mean, Median and SD of level of Knowledge scores of adults regarding Dengue fevern N=150

Knowledge aspects	No. of Items	Max Score	Mean	Mean %	Median	SD
Overall	30	30	13.79	27.27	14	4.06

Section III: Association between level of Knowledge scores of adults about dengue fever with their selected demographic variables

Table 4: Association between level of knowledge scores and selected demographic variables

Sl. No.	Variables	Below Median	Median and above	Chi square	Df	P value (0.05)	Inference
1.	Age in years
	18-27 years	41	41	4.577	3	0.206	NS
	28-37 years	16	33
	38-47 years	8	8
	48-57 years	2	1
2.	Caste
	Hindu	55	67	2.300	3	0.513	NS
	Muslim	7	13
	Christian	2	2
	Others	3	1
3.	Education
	Illiterate	9	14	0.501	4	0.973	NS
	Primary	13	16
	High School	22	24
	PUC	17	22
	Degree and Above	6	7
4.	Occupation
	House wife	45	51	10.078	3	0.018	S
	Government Job	9	2
	Private Job	6	12
	Agriculture	7	18
5.	Family Income
	Below Rs. 2000	27	17	9.959	3	0.019	S
	Rs. 2001-5000	23	38
	Rs. 5001-12000	10	9
	Rs. 12001 and above	7	19
6.	Type of family
	Joint family	34	33	1.811	1	0.178	NS
	Nuclear family	33	50	1.811	1	0.178	NS
7.	History of dengue fever
	Yes	12	4	6.668	1	0.010	S
	No	55	79	6.668	1	0.010	S
8.	Method of Waste Disposal
	Throwing near house	10	16	4.834	3	0.184	NS
	Burning	20	36
	Burying	6	5
	Composting	31	26
9.	Source of Information
	Health worker	29	32	1.205	3	0.752	NS
	News paper	17	21
	Relatives and friends	11	12
	Others	10	18