Hantaviruses in Agricultural and Forestry Workers: Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices in Italian Physicians

Abstract

Hantaviruses are viral pathogens usually endemic in rodent populations. Human exposure follows inhalation of dusts contaminated with rodent excreta, and most individuals have been infected in occupational settings heavily contaminated with rodent droppings, such as agricultural and forestry. To date, knowledge, attitudes and practices of medical professionals, especially occupational physicians (OP), regarding hantavirus disease in at-risk workers have been scarcely investigated. We investigated these topics through a structured questionnaire administered through an online survey of 223 medical professionals (42.2% of them working as OP). Adequate general knowledge of hantavirus disease was found in 48.9% of respondents, with OP exhibiting a better understanding of clinical features of human hantavirus infections. OP aware of the endemic status of hantavirus in North-Eastern Italy exhibited higher risk perception for agricultural workers (odds ratio 21,193, 95% confidence interval 3.666-122.505). On the contrary, a better knowledge of hantaviruses was association with acknowledging an increased risk of hantavirus infection in forestry workers (odds ratio 5.880, 95% confidence interval 1.620-21.343). Hantavirus in Italy represent an often-overlooked biological risk in occupational settings. The lack of preventive immunization, the inappropriate risk perception and the unsatisfying awareness of hantavirus issues collectively stress the importance of appropriate information campaigns among health care providers.

Keywords: hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome; hantavirus pulmonary syndrome; hantaviruses; health knowledge; knowledge; practice; risk perception; vaccines.

Figure 1

Left to right, density plot for knowledge score, and risk perception score in 223 Italian physicians participating into the survey. Cumulative scores were neither skewed (D’Agostino–Pearson’s normality test p value < 0.001 for both scores) nor significantly correlated in Spearman’s ranks correlation test (R = 0.087; p = 0.200).