University Students' Knowledge, Attitudes, and Sources of Information About Zika Virus.

Colleges and universities are valuable partners for community health education outreach targeted to young adults. After the outbreak of Zika virus infection in the Americas was declared to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on February 1, 2016, postsecondary institutions played an important role in educating at-risk communities about health promotion and disease prevention strategies. In April 2016, we recruited 613 undergraduate students from a large public university to complete a survey about their Zika-related knowledge, attitudes, and information seeking behaviors. We standardized the results so that the participants' reports would be representative of the age, sex, major (course of study), and other characteristics of the university's student population. Most students knew that Zika virus is spread by mosquitoes (88.1%), but only about half knew that the virus could be transmitted through sexual intercourse (56.8%). Students perceived Zika to be a health risk for pregnant women in Zika-affected countries (83.0%), but did not personally feel at risk (12.1%). Many students (43.8%) reported not knowing where to get accurate information about Zika. Identifying gaps in scientific knowledge, misperceptions about personal susceptibility, and opportunities for behavioral risk reduction is an important foundation for designing community-based health interventions when future emerging infectious disease events occur.

Zika virus knowledge, attitudes, and vaccine interest among university students.

BACKGROUND: Zika virus vaccine development is underway. We examined interest in receiving a Zika virus vaccine (after one becomes commercially available) among students at a large public university in Northern Virginia. METHODS: An online survey of Zika virus-related knowledge, attitudes, and interest in receiving a Zika vaccine was completed by 619 undergraduate students in April, 2016. Stepwise logistic regression with backward elimination was used to identify the variables most strongly associated with interest in being vaccinated against Zika virus. RESULTS: More than half of participants (52.8%) reported that they would be likely or very likely to be vaccinated against Zika virus. Vaccination interest was significantly higher among participants who received an influenza vaccine in the past year (p=0.002), had higher levels of knowledge about Zika virus (p=0.046), reported knowing where to access information about Zika virus (p=0.041), had higher perceived susceptibility to Zika virus (p<0.001), and believed that the U.S. Government should prioritize actions to control Zika virus (p=0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Communication and intervention strategies encouraging vaccine uptake may benefit from increasing knowledge of Zika virus, addressing perceived susceptibility, and reaching students, travelers, and others who may be seeking information about prevention of Zika virus and other emerging infectious diseases.