What if a Bioterrorist Attack Occurs?—A Survey on Citizen Preparedness in Aveiro, Portugal

Helena Santos, Maria de Lurdes Pinto, Luís Cardoso, Isilda Rodrigues and Ana Cláudia Coelho
Additional contact information
Helena Santos: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal
Maria de Lurdes Pinto: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal
Luís Cardoso: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal
Isilda Rodrigues: Escola de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal
Ana Cláudia Coelho: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal

Societies, 2023, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Introduction: A bioterrorist attack is the intentional release of pathogenic micro-organisms, such as viruses, bacteria, or their toxins, with the aim of causing illness or death in people, animals, or plants. In this study, we investigated the knowledge and practices related to bioterrorism preparedness in Central Portugal. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was performed with a convenience sample in the population of Aveiro, Central Portugal, to assess their knowledge about bioterrorism, self-perceived preparation to act in case of bioterrorism and pet owners’ preparation. An online validated questionnaire was completed by 198 participants from January to February 2020. Results: In this study, 46.0% of the respondents answered that they knew nothing about bioterrorism or had never heard about the possibility of bioterrorist attacks. In the case of an attack, 77.8% participants did not consider themselves prepared to act, and 62.1% did not know how to use personal protective equipment. More than half of the respondents (60.6%) were not familiar with the local emergency response system in response to catastrophes/bioterrorist attacks. Almost all respondents (95.6%) assigned high importance to drinking water and food for pets, but only 22.9% of respondents attributed high importance to pet carrier boxes, an item essential for cat evacuation. Conclusion: This is the first survey of this kind in Portugal concerning bioterrorism preparedness in citizens and animals. Results suggest that Portuguese knowledge is limited, and people have inadequate preparedness for a bioterrorist attack. These results reinforce the importance of further studies to better understand the existing gaps in knowledge of Portuguese citizens, strengthen the need to adopt the One Health concept in preparedness plans and emphasize the crucial role of health education in prevention.

Keywords: bioterrorism; knowledge; pet; Portugal; practice; preparedness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 A14 P P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/13/1/18/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/13/1/18/ (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:jsoctx:v:13:y:2023:i:1:p:18-:d:1035896

Access Statistics for this article

Societies is currently edited by Ms. Farrah Sun

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