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Abstract
Seasonal influenza is a contagious infection of the respiratory tract caused by Influenza viruses. Influenza remains sporadic throughout the year, but from early October to late winters, it becomes an epidemic. Universities, colleges, and schools are places at increased risk of an influenza outbreak. The purpose of this study is to assess students' knowledge of influenza, influenza prevention, and vaccination to prevent future epidemics or pandemics. For this purpose, a cross-sectional study was conducted by using a researcher-administered survey to collect data during February-March 2020 from 358 medical as well as non-medical or social sciences students studying at the Punjab University in Lahore, Pakistan.
Descriptive analysis was conducted to assess students' knowledge of influenza, influenza vaccination, and influenza prevention. Results revealed that, the majority of the respondents was male (52.8%) and had age group 21-25 (76.3%) years. We found adequate knowledge among students, with the exception of the dissemination of knowledge about the cause, systemic symptoms and availability of influenza vaccine in Pakistan, which was adequate but less than other aspects of influenza awareness and relatively low among non-medical or social science students. Chi-square test showed a significant association between knowledge of the cause of influenza, its symptoms, associated mortality, preventive measures and the availability of influenza vaccine in Pakistan with the respondent's study discipline. Awareness of the above-mentioned aspects was higher among medical or health-sciences students.
In addition, the Mann-Whitney U test was performed to assess student’s behavior in relation to taking preventive measures. A p-value of 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The results showed that behaviors such as washing hands more regularly, using the elbow to cough, and sneezing were significantly higher among medical or biological students. While, other more rigorous preventive measures, such as using hand sanitizers, covering the mouth and maintaining social distance, were equally common among students across all academic disciplines. Negligence was observed in the entire study population with regard to seasonal influenza vaccination. The majority of the population (88%) agrees that influenza is a mild illness and does not require vaccination. The Mann-Whitney U test revealed that this behavior was more common among medical or health sciences students. Other negative behaviors observed include needle fear, parental or relative refusal to vaccinate, and too busy to get a flu shot. These results indicate that there is an urgent need for frequent awareness-raising programs at universities, specifically targeting non-medical or social science students, to control the growing burden of influenza.