Local classifications of fever and treatment sought among populations at risk of zoonotic diseases in Ghana

PLoS One. 2018 Aug 23;13(8):e0201526. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0201526. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

In the past four decades, there has been an increase in the occurrence of zoonotic diseases. Some outbreaks have been devastating because of the inability of individuals and health workers to identify the diseases early. Generally, most zoonotic diseases are heralded by a fever. While fevers are common, they are often the symptoms of different diseases. This paper explores how a population at potential risk of zoonotic diseases identify fevers, and what treatments they seek when they develop fevers. The data are from focus group discussions and a survey of three communities in the Brong Ahafo, Volta and Greater Accra regions in Ghana. The quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics while the qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings indicate that the perceived causes of fever differ from the traditional biomedical view. While orthodox treatment was the preferred choice for most participants, rural dwellers utilised traditional medicine more than their urban counterparts. Though there is no record of bat-borne zoonotic disease in Ghana, our findings could be used as a proxy to indicate how populations at risk of exposure might respond in the event of a spillover event from a zoonosis. We recommend that educational campaigns on zoonotic diseases should target rural dwellers, especially farmers, who may be most at risk of zoonoses.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Animals
  • Disease Outbreaks / prevention & control*
  • Female
  • Fever / diagnosis*
  • Fever / epidemiology
  • Fever / therapy
  • Ghana / epidemiology
  • Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Medicine, African Traditional / methods
  • Medicine, African Traditional / psychology
  • Middle Aged
  • Patient Education as Topic*
  • Perception
  • Qualitative Research
  • Risk Factors
  • Rural Population / statistics & numerical data
  • Urban Population / statistics & numerical data
  • Young Adult
  • Zoonoses / diagnosis*
  • Zoonoses / epidemiology
  • Zoonoses / therapy

Grants and funding

This work was supported with funds by the Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA). NERC project no. NE-J00 1570-1, 192. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.