Avian Influenza Risk Perception, Hong Kong

摘要

A telephone survey of 986 Hong Kong householdsdetermined exposure and risk perception of avian influenzafrom live chicken sales. Householders bought 38,370,000live chickens; 11% touched them when buying, generating4,220,000 exposures annually; 36% (95% confidence inter-val [CI] 33%–39%) perceived this as risky, 9% (7%–11%)estimated >50% likelihood of resultant sickness, whereas46% (43%–49%) said friends worried about such sickness.Recent China travel (adjusted odds ratio 0.35; CI0.13–0.91), traditional beliefs (1.20, 1.06–1.13), willingnessto change (0.29, 0.11–0.81) and believing cooking protectsagainst avian influenza (8.66, 1.61–46.68) predicted buy-ing. Birth in China (2.79, 1.43–5.44) or overseas (4.23,1.43–12.53) and unemployment (3.87, 1.24–12.07) predict-ed touching. Age, avian influenza contagion worries, hus-bandry threat, avian influenza threat, and avian influenzaanxiety predicted perceived sickness risk. High populationexposures to live chickens and low perceived risk arepotentially important health threats in avian influenza