Knowledge and Attitude of Dentists toward Delta Strain of COVID-19 Virus in Al-Ramady, Iraq
Abstract
Background: The infection started in China soon expanded to become a global pandemic in 2020. Due to the emergence of variants, the world has witnessed many waves of cases and deaths. Successful control and reduction of deaths require changing the behaviour, which is influenced by the knowledge, attitude and practices of the people.
Objective: To assess the knowledge and attitude of dentists toward the delta strain of the COVID-19 virus in Al-Ramady, Iraq.
Methodology: A cross-sectional study has been carried out by a questionnaire constructed for the purpose of the study distributed by the internet to 144 dentists working in Al-Ramadi city.
Results: A total of 112 dentists participated in this study, 58.9% were male. More than half of them gain their knowledge from social media. About the best measure in prevention 33.9% answered by “Distancing†and 28.6% by “Wearing maskâ€. About one-third of them thought that the main presenting feature was cough, followed by fever at a rate of 26.8%. 58.9% of the interviewed dentists believed that the new strain was more dangerous and 78.6% believed that it was a more transmissible strain. That raised the rate of fear from getting an infection with the new strain of the virus to 80.4% and made a fear from contacting people reach (89.3%).
Conclusion: Social media is an important source of knowledge for dentists who were aware of the new strain. They perceived the disease as dangerous and transmissible.
How to cite this article:
AI-Qarakhli AMA, Al-Ogaidi HHK, Abd YA. Knowledge and Attitude of Dentists toward Delta Strain of COVID-19 Virus in Al-Ramady, Iraq. Special Issue - COVID-19 & Other Communicable Disease. 2022;124-127.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24321/0019.5138.202220
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