Knowledge, risk perceptions, and preventive precautions among Hong Kong students during the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic

This study reports the knowledge, risk perceptions, and preventive precautions among 288 Hong Kong secondary school students during the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic. Only 28.1% of the students expressed knowledge of all 3 major routes of H1N1 transmission, and 58.1% perceived a high risk of H1N1 infection. Adoption of 4-5 preventive precautions was not prevalent (40.9%) and was significantly associated with female sex, better knowledge of transmission, and higher perceived risk of infection. Copyright (C) 2012 by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.