Analysis of Awareness of Parasitic Diseases and Their Risks

According to the WHO, parasitic diseases affect 4.5 billion people, which is more than half of the world's population. Their prevalence depends on the level of hygiene habits of the population, sanitary and hygienic literacy, and preventive focus. An important aspect in this issue is the study of knowledge and the level of awareness of the population about parasitic diseases. Objective of the study: to analyze public awareness of parasitic diseases and the potential risks to human health associated with them. The preventive focus of the survey consisted of the development, publication and distribution of an information leaflet in the Internet community on ascariasis and enterobiasis. Material and methods: the survey was conducted from February to April 2025 on the Google Forms platform. A structured questionnaire consisted of 33 questions, the test group included 205 Internet users. Statistical processing of the obtained results was performed using SPSS version 28.0.1 software. Results: were based on the responses of 205 subjects aged 10-59 years, obtained using Google Forms through an online survey. A typical feature of the survey is the dominance of women - 60.5%, men accounted for 39.5%. In terms of education structure, respondents with higher education (51.2%) led, followed by secondary (43.4%) and primary (5.4%) education. The age of the subjects varied from 14 to 49 years, and the Kyrgyz prevailed in the national structure (52.1%). Their place of residence was most often associated with an urbanized environment (80.5%). The majority of respondents self-assessed their health as good (48.8%), then satisfactory (25.4%), excellent (22.0%), and only (3.8%) as poor. The assessment questions were designed in such a way as to take into account all routes of human infection with parasitic diseases. According to the alimentary route of infection, it was found that the absolute majority of respondents (97.7%) wash their hands before eating, while 41.0% of subjects did not wash their hands before eating after talking on mobile phones. An assessment of the waterborne route of infection showed that 39.5% of respondents had once drunk water from an open body of water. Social networks were the most popular way to obtain information about parasitic diseases (86.3%), followed by everyday communication with family, friends, and colleagues (80.5%), Google search (80%), scientific articles (59%), and news (58%). Conclusions: A survey of internet users revealed gaps in knowledge regarding parasitic diseases transmitted by various routes. While 15.6% of respondents reported having had a parasitic disease, only 9.8% reported having had one in the past 12 months. Most respondents neglect certain aspects of personal hygiene and dietary hygiene, thereby underestimating the risk of developing a parasitic infestation. They likely do not perceive parasitic diseases as severe, misjudging potential complications.