West Nile Virus: The Buzz on Ottawa Residents' Awareness, Attitudes and Practices

Background: In 2002, the City of Ottawa was interested in the public perception of West Nile Virus (WNV) and mosquito control. Their objectives were to assess: awareness of WNV, practices to reduce mosquito sources, personal protective measures, and attitudes towards community-based insecticide programs. Methods: In July 2002, we administered a telephone survey to a random, stratified sample of urban, suburban and rural Ottawa households. Results: Surveys were completed for 491 households. Most (77.2%) respondents reported they had heard of WNV, and of these, 58.3% reported WNV was an important health issue. Mosquito repellent was the most common personal protective measure, reported among 72.5% of respondents, of whom 76.9% used DEET products. Multivariate regression analyses showed that age was a significant predictor of repellent use, with respondents aged less than 51 years more likely to use repellent than older respondents (ORadj = 2.0; 95% CI: 1.2-2.3). This age group was also more likely to use at least one personal protective behaviour (ORadj = 2.5; 95% CI: 1.4-4.5). Of 315 people selecting a justified time to larvicide, 4.8% chose "larvicides should never be used in Ottawa"; 33.4% stated that larviciding would be appropriate "when WNV was detected in birds or mosquitoes"; one third "needed more information" on the health and environmental effects of insecticides, prior to selecting a response. Conclusions: Our findings highlight the need for public education reinforcing WNV importance, emphasizing the health and environmental effects of insecticides as well as appropriate personal protective behaviours. Such messages should target older and urban residents. Contexte : En 2002, la ville d'Ottawa a voulu connaître la perception du public sur le virus du Nil occidental (VNO) et la lutte contre les moustiques. Les objectifs étaient d'évaluer : la sensibilisation au VNO, les pratiques utilisées pour réduire les sources de moustiques, les mesures de protection personnelles et les attitudes face aux programmes communautaires d'application d'insectifuges. Méthode : En juillet 2002, nous avons réalisé une enquête téléphonique auprès d'un échantillon stratifié de ménages choisis au hasard en milieu urbain, en banlieue et en milieu rural. Résultats : Quatre cent quatre-vingt-onze (491) ménages ont répondu à l'enquête. La plupart des répondants (77,2 %) ont déclaré être au courant de l'existence du VNO, et pour 58,3 % de ceux-ci, le VNO représente une questi