Level of Knowledge of Zoonoses of Pets in Veterinary Medicine Students

Abstract

<p>Animals can transmit infections known as zoonoses, which correspond to infectious diseases transmitted from vertebrate animals to humans and/or vice versa. In such scenario, the veterinary medical professionals are in charge of education to prevent these pathologies; knowledge that they acquire in their academic stage. The objectives of the current study are to determine the level of knowledge that fourth and fifth-year veterinary medicine students have about zoonoses of small animals, and to evaluate its association with variables such as age and performance of the core subject of epidemiology. Methodologically, the descriptive and cross-sectional study was based on conducting a 40-question survey through the Socrative virtual platform, to 31 students with current enrollment in 2021, from a private university in central-southern Chile. As results, it was obtained that in 58.6% (18/31) of the total number of respondents, their level of knowledge was in the category of "very good" according to the Likert scale. Also, the highest level of knowledge corresponded to the age range of 26 to 30 years, with 60% (3/5) "very good", while students with grades between 6.1 and 7.0 had 75% (6/8) "very good" (p > 0.05). Among cohorts, the best level of knowledge was obtained by the fifth year, with 64.3%. In conclusion, it is important that a future professional has the skills and knowledge about these pathologies, which directly affects the health of pets, and indirectly the health of the community; even more so if we consider the importance of this profession in the concept of One World, One Health.</p>