Knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of academics regarding travel-related infections
Аннотация
Aim: Academics frequently travel to different countries to attend scientific meetings, putting them at risk of contracting serious infectious diseases. We aimed to investigate the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of academics from Ondokuz Mayıs University regarding travel medicine and pre-travel advice.
 Material and Methods: We administered a questionnaire consisting of 25 questions to academic staff, who traveled abroad. The questionnaire consisted of five sections: demographic information, preparation before travel, during the travel, after the travel, and general information about travel health.The chi-square test was used in the statistical assessment of proportional differences, and multivariate analysis was used in the assessment of the effect of independent variables on knowledge of travel health centers.
 Results: Two hundred academics participated in the study. Before traveling, 91.5% of participants reviewed general information about their destination and 10.5% recieved vaccination before travel. Sixty-five participants were familiar of the Directorate General of Health for Border and Coastal Areas of Turkey (DHBC), and 86% of them were at the Faculty of Medicine and most of them were male (72%). There was a statistically significant difference between those who knew about DHBC and members of the Faculty of Medicine and male compared to remaining participants.
 Conclusion: Medical doctors' attitudes and level of knowledge about travel health were higher than those of other faculties. However, this group had a low rate of knowledge that the DHBC provides information about travel health.