Factors Affecting Cholera Infection Prevention Practices Among Food Vendords in Osogbo Metropolis, Osun State, Nigeria

Cholera is a dangerous diarrhoeal disease that can be lethal, particularly in places with inadequate sanitation and little access to medical care. Outbreaks of foodborne cholera have the potential to overwhelm healthcare systems and impact huge populations due to their fast spread. Prevention and control of cholera can be accomplished by the provision of safe drinking water, improving sanitation, food hygiene, personal cleanliness, and clinical case management. Eighty percent of cases of cholera are mild and asymptomatic, with an incubation period varying from two hours to five days. The route of transmission is the fecal-oral route; cholera outbreaks are mainly caused by internal displacement caused by natural and man-made calamities. An estimated 28,000 to 150,000 people die from cholera each year, and there are 3 to 5 million cases worldwide. Serogroups, O1 and O139 of Vibrio cholerae are linked to pandemic and epidemic cholera in humans. The second main way that cholera is spread is through contaminated food in homes or markets. In Nigeria, cholera was first notified in December 1970, which led to an epidemic of 22,931 cases and 2,945 deaths with intermittent outbreaks occurring since then and CFR of 3.3%. A multistage sampling procedure was adopted after which a two groups simple randomized experimental design was used for this study; it was carried out in two Local Government Areas using three stages, namely, pre-intervention, intervention, and post-intervention stages. The study population comprised of about three hundred food vendors from which a sample size of one hundred and sixteen (116) were drawn. The questionnaire were administered using interviewed administered questionnaire approach, data were analyzed using the IBM Statistical Package for Services Solutions (SPSS) version 22. Most of the respondents 35 (30.2%) fall within age range 41 – 50 years of age. Majority 106 (91.4%) were females, most 98 (84.5%) of the respondents were Yoruba. Most 55 (47.4%) of the respondents has senior secondary certificate. Most 41 (33.3%) of the respondents have been vending for between 5-10years. Majority 112 (96.6%) of the respondents were aware of the cholera infection and the major sources of their information’s were radio 81(72.3%) at (χ 2 = 10.036, P = 0.002) and television 68 (60.7%) at (χ 2 = 5.390, P = 0.014). Forty five 45 (80.4%) of the respondents believed that drinking contaminated water and 40 (71.4%) believed that consuming contaminated food were routes of cholera infection transmission. Majority 81 (72.2%) at (χ 2= 7.862, p= 0.020) of the respondents practiced though food cooking when cholera is suspected, most 86 (76.8) at (χ 2= 16.643, p= 0.001) of the respondents will wash vegetables very well when cholera is suspected. 81 (72.3 %) at (χ 2 = 1.137, p= 0.566) said that when they suspect cholera they wash their hands with soap and .water which was statistically not significant. Forty four (75.9%) of the respondents in the control and 36 (62.1%) of the respondents in the study group were of the opinion that ORS helps in the prevention of cholera infection.