Similarities And Differences Between Persons Of Higher And Lower Income In Argentina, Concerning Their Knowledge On Vertically Transmitted Diseases

Background: The fact that individuals in higher income brackets have easier access to general information raises the question whether the individuals in lower brackets are receiving insufficient medical knowledge. The countrywide vaccination campaign against rubella allowed us to observe a young and healthy adult population that was a fair representation of two social strata; this was ideal for the purpose of our investigation. So, we tried to assess the degree of knowledge regarding vertically transmitted diseases by these two groups of citizens of different social and cultural levels. Methods: Our population performed two groups, the first one attending a community hospital of a very high social and cultural level in the city (GROUP #1, with 508 males and 966 females), and a second one belonging to a low income health center in a lower income area outside the city (GROUP #2, with 84 males and 94 females). Both groups responded anonymously to the survey on vertically transmitted diseases.Tabled 1Results: DiseaseHospital AlemánWilliam MorrisToxoplasmosis46%46%HIV81%76%HBV53%40%Rubella24%48%Syphilis24%30%HPV21%35% Open table in a new tab GROUP #1 showed to have a better knowledge than GROUP #2 regarding HIV and Hepatitis B (81% to 76%). However GROUP #2 identified Chagas disease and Syphilis more readily than GROUP #1 (30% to 24% and 35% to 21% respectively) as vertically transmitted diseases; for German Measles the proportion was even higher (GROUP#1: 24% and GROUP #2: 48%). Conclusion: Possibly, the higher incidence of Chagas disease and the compulsory testing for Syphilis in the health center attended by GROUP #2 are the variables that led to a slight increase of awareness of these illnesses by the latter. It is surprising though that, despite the fact that this study was conducted at the time of the German Measles vaccination process, both groups showed a low recognition level of this disease being vertically transmitted. The degree of awareness of vertically transmitted infections is generally low, and better access to information does not seem to play a determining role in the level of awareness amongst a healthy, young population. Other strategies have to be tried. Abstracts for SupplementInternational Journal of Infectious DiseasesVol. 14Preview Full-Text PDF Open Archive