Less than 10 percent of people are fully aware of how swine flu spreads, a survey released by Common Health magazine showed on Friday.
The telephone survey, conducted between July 9 and July 11, found that 6.84 percent of respondents correctly identified the two means by which the swine flu virus can be transmitted: Through contact with infected pigs or environments contaminated by the virus, and through contact with a person carrying the virus.
In cases of human-to-human transmission, the virus is spread through droplets emitted by coughing or sneezing rather than through airborne transmission.
The survey collected 1,112 valid samples, with a 95 percent confidence level and a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percent.
More than 32 percent of respondents mistakenly believed that swine flu can be spread through airborne transmission.
The survey also found that only one-third of respondents would stay at home if they contracted swine flu, with the rest saying they would still go to school or to the office.
Men were more likely than women to continue going to work if they contracted the virus and the higher the education level, the more likely the respondents were to go to school or to work, the survey showed.
It also found that 90 percent of respondents would see a doctor if they contracted the virus.
If their children came down with the virus, 60 percent of respondents said they would not let them go to school, but 20 percent said it would depend on the situation.
Commenting on the survey, former Department of Health minister Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), who is also a researcher at Academia Sinica, said the ratio of people with appropriate knowledge of the swine flu was lower than he expected.
“This is worrisome because wrong perceptions of the disease could lead to public health risks,” Chen said.
He called on the government to increase public awareness as part of its strategy to combat the epidemic.
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