Knowledge & awareness of tuberculosis infection: a cross-sectional study among different community people of Chattogram city, Bangladesh

Introduction: Early detection of health issues can prevent the development of diseases in human which plays an important role in betterment of life. Improvements of public’s health make the community health. Tuberculosis is caused by bacteria Mycobacterium Tuberculosis which spread the TB disease among the community through air. If tuberculosis is untreated, it can be fatal. Objectives: The aims and objectives of this study are assesses the knowledge of the TB disease among the respondents, to find out the socio demographic characteristics of the respondents, to find out the attitude related factors, to explore preventive measure and treatment realated variables on TB of the respondents and explore the association between socio-demoghraphic and awareness related factors among the respondents. Method: Data was collected from different community people of Chattogram City. All of the respondents participated in this study willingly. By interview method the data was collected. The data was analyzed by using Microsoft excel 2016. The association was analyzed by using chi-square test. Results: Total 161 respondents were assessed of tuberculosis from Chattogram city with the age of 20 years to 60 years. Among them, 69% is male and 31% is female. The patients were from different area. About 17% of them were from slum area, 45% were from rural area and 29% were urban area. In our study, about 90% of the patients had knowledge of TB and its related factors and 10% had no idea before about TB. About 30.40% respondents had no knowledge about the risk factor on TB and rest 69.60% had proper knowledge about it. In this study 74% respondents had knowledge on DOTS program and 65% of respondents visited DOTS. The sources of information of TB are TV, radio, newspaper, community health workers etc. Family income is associated with visiting health care center. Conclusion: Tuberculosis is an infectious disease, and it is airborne disease. Proper knowledge and awareness on TB can protect the community from this life threatening disease.