Influenza is an acute respiratory tract infection caused by influenza virus of which these are type A,B and C all known
pandemics were caused by influenza A stains. The disease is characterised by sudden onset of chills, malarial fever
muscular pain and cough [1]. A influenza A viral stains implicated in 2009 flu pandemic in human was earlier referred to
as swine flu because initial testing showed many of genes in virus were similar to influenza viruses normally occurring in
north American swine. A cross sectional study was conducted among rural population of Puducherry using a pre-tested,
pre-designed and standard questionnaire to collect data and it is analysed using suitable statistical methods. In our present
study among the 200 households, 96% of them were aware swine flu is a communicable disease and 78% of them said, the
illness starts with fever and cough. Majority of the participants 89%, 94% and 75% of the individuals knows that there is
treatment, investigation and vaccine available for the swine flu illness respectively. Almost 91% of them knew that the
swine flu is preventable and knowledge regarding the methods of prevention is by mask (29%), personal hygiene (59%)
and 17% by avoiding crowded areas respectively. Our study highlights that most of the participants are aware of the
swineflu illness. The knowledge regarding the mode of spread, signs & symptoms and preventive strategies has to be
imparted to the community through health education programmesddd |