Haider Ali, Syed Imtiaz Ahmed Jafry, Muhammad Zafar Iqbal Hydrie, Syed Muhammad Zulfiqar Hyder Naqvi, Munir Ahmad Shaikh.
Knowledge, attitude and practice regarding tuberculosis management among final year students of two medical colleges of Karachi.
Pak J Chest Med Jan ;25(4):166-80.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the most common infectious diseases caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis and continues to be a major public health problem worldwide especially in low and middle-income countries. To assess the knowledge, attitude and practice among final year medical students of Karachi regarding management of Tuberculosis. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted in two medical colleges located in different districts of Karachi from January 2017 to June 2017. The inclusion criterion of the study was being a final year MBBS student of the college whereas refusal to give written informed consent was the exclusion criterion of the study. Research instrument was a semi structured questionnaire administered by the principal investigator to all the participants. Data collected were analyzed using SPSS statistical package version 20. Results: Only 24.1% students were able to correctly identify that 2 samples are needed for confirmation of TB diagnosis, only 21.7% knew which medicines were used in category 2 continuation phase of treatment, only 41.4% knew the second line drugs of tuberculosis, and only 43.5% knew that peripheral neuritis is the side effect of isoniazid. Less than half stated correctly that optic neuropathy effect is caused by ethambutol while hepatotoxic effects are caused by INH (47.8% and 42.9% respectively). Less than half (49.1%) students said that if tuberculosis patient takes medicines regularly the symptoms will disappear while only 54.0% stated that a patient with latent tuberculosis should not be isolated. Conclusion: Basic knowledge gaps regarding tuberculosis management have been highlighted in this study. This identification may help to develop tools to fill the gaps in the future with updated tuberculosis management included in the medical curriculum.

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