EBOLA VIRUS DISEASE: AWARENESS AMONG DENTAL STUDENTS IN HUNGARY

Abstract

The Ebola (EVD) epidemic has claimed thousands of lives in Africa. Dentists may contact infected patients for the first time. The aim of this study was to assess the level of knowledge of EVD among dental students at the Semmelweis University, Budapest and in Hungary.

Method: A cross-sectional study of a convenience sample of 257 dental students (fourth and fifth year of the Dental Faculty of Budapest, and about half of the fourth and fifth year dental student population of Hungary) in May 2015 across five different courses: fifth-year Hungarian students (n=78), fifth-year English language students (n=27), fifth- year German language students (n=13) and fourth-year Hungarian students (n=85). Fourth-year English language course students (n=26) and fourth-year German language course students (n=28) formed one fourth year foreign language group (n=54). All the students were asked to fill out a detailed questionnaire of 11 questions about the signs and symptoms, investigations, management, and sequelae of the virus and the outbreak.

Results: 257 dental students completed the questionnaire; 118 by fifth-year- and the remaining 139 by fourth-year dental students. All of the submitted questionnaires were included in the analysis. Students of the fourth year Hungarian course achieved the highest overall score of 17.9 for all the questions, followed by the fifth year German course with an overall score of 14.8, which was significantly less compared with the fourth year Hungarian group (p<0.0001, Student’s t-test). The fifth year Hungarian course with a score of 13.7 was not statistically different from the fifth year Germans while the fourth year foreign language score of 11 was significantly lower compared to all the groups. Fifth year English course participants achieved the lowest overall score, gaining 10.2 of the attainable marks. Students scored less than 60% for 8 of the 11 questions, including recognition and subsequent management of EVD.

Conclusions: Our study showed that there is a general shortage of knowledge about important aspects of EVD among dental students, especially amongst English speaking fifth year students. These results suggest that dental schools need to act to better prepare students.