Middle East Respiratory Syndrome- Coronavirus - knowledge and attitude among health care workers in King Fahad Central Hospital Jazan city of Saudi Arabia

Background: Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-coronavirus causes respiratory illness and has been linked to high morbidity and mortality since it was first found in Saudi Arabia in 2012. Camels have been identified as the likely source of the infection of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in Egypt, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. Currently, there is no available treatment for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-coronavirus; however, many efforts was done by the World Health Organization. Methodsa cross-sectional study aimed to assess the level of knowledge and attitude towards Middle East Respiratory Syndrome among health care workers at King Fahad Central Hospital Jazan city of Saudi Arabia. using structured self-administered questionnaires. Results: A total of 384 participants (239 female and 145 male) included in the survey. The vast majority of the participants were aged less or equal 29 years (53.9%). In general, our findings showed that (80.7%) having a good knowledge about the infection with mean knowledge score 15.5 ±. 08 and most of them (91.8%) showed positive attitude towards the infection with mean attitude score 30.5±. 2. Female were significantly more knowledgeable compared to male. No significance difference was found between knowledge and respondent age. Physicians were significantly found more knowledge compared to other health care workers concerning many terms of knowledge. Conclusion: Our study showed that generally there are good knowledge and positive attitude among healthcare workers at King Fahad Central Hospital Jazan city of Saudi Arabia towards Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-coronavirus in general a part of, certain gaps needs Continued and strengthened educational programs, moreover making the maximum benefit to modern technology to spread the information.