The Role of Human Behavior in Plasmodium knowlesi Malaria Infection: A Systematic Review

Nurul Athirah Naserrudin, Rozita Hod, Mohammad Saffree Jeffree, Kamruddin Ahmed, Richard Culleton and Mohd Rohaizat Hassan
Additional contact information
Nurul Athirah Naserrudin: Department of Community Health, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia
Rozita Hod: Department of Community Health, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia
Mohammad Saffree Jeffree: Borneo Medical and Health Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu 88400, Malaysia
Kamruddin Ahmed: Borneo Medical and Health Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu 88400, Malaysia
Richard Culleton: Department of Molecular Parasitology, Proteo-Science Centre, Ehime University, Matsuyama 791-0295, Japan
Mohd Rohaizat Hassan: Department of Community Health, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 6, 1-17

Abstract: Objectives: Plasmodium knowlesi is a non-human parasite that causes zoonotic disease in humans. This systematic review aims to highlight and summarize studies describing human behaviors and activities that expose humans to mosquito bites. Design: English entries in PubMed, Web of Science, and Science Direct from 2010 to 2020 were systematically perused, and the results were synthesized. Methodological quality was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute quality appraisal checklists. Setting: Studies that described malaria preventive measures were included. Laboratory, in vivo, in vitro, and animal studies were excluded. Primary and secondary outcome measures: The main outcome of the review was findings from studies describing the behavior that exposed a person or a group to P. knowlesi infection. Results: Twelve eligible studies were of good or medium quality. Attitude, disease misconceptions, perceived threat of disease, lack of motivation, and supernatural or traditional beliefs causing individuals to seek treatment from traditional healers influenced the exposure of individuals or communities to P. knowlesi malaria. Other factors were forestry activities (2.48, 1.45–4.23,95% CI, p = 0.0010) and sleeping outdoors (3.611, 1.48–8.85, 95% CI, p = 0.0049). Conclusions: Future studies must consider the importance of human behavior and community perspective on the infection to provide novel information to improve the current zoonotic malaria programs. Policymakers should concentrate on understanding human behavior and activities that expose individuals or communities to mosquito bites, in order to better design socially feasible interventions.

Keywords: Plasmodium knowlesi; malaria; zoonotic disease; human behavior; prevention; intervention (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/6/3675/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/6/3675/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:6:p:3675-:d:775136

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().