Between December 2005 and February 2006, an avian influenza epidemic occurred in Turkey and 12 pediatric cases were diagnosed by WHO laboratories, of whom four patients died. Since a pandemic can begin if H5N1 influenza virus gains ability to disseminate among humans and public awareness and knowledge are among the most important factors to prevent this pandemic, a public survey was planned to determine public awareness and knowledge of avian influenza. A 15-item questionnaire was given to 227 parents who came to the Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, İhsan Doğramacı Children Hospital with their children. We found that 62.5% of parents thought that Newcastle disease, which does not infect humans, and avian influenza were the same illness. Only 10.9% of the responders continued to eat egg and poultry. For most of the parents (91.6 %), television and radio were the major source of knowledge about avian influenza. About half (42.7%) of the participants believed that H5N1 virus was a biological war agent coming from some foreign countries to Turkey. In spite of the fact that avian influenza virus has the ability to transmit from human to human if it infects a person simultaneously with seasonal influenza virus (H3N2), 86.3% of the parents and 82.4% of their children did not have a vaccination against influenza. Although the Turkish goverment plan ned to cull the poultry to prevent transmission of the virus from poultry to humans, only 56.4% of participants thought that it was effective and necessary. The results of the study showed that this adult population did not have sufficient information or awareness about the characteristics of avian influenza and transmission of the virus. We suggest that more effective educational studies are needed in our country.

Keywords: avian influenza, kuş gribi, halk anketi, bilgi ve bilinç düzeyi, bird flu, public survey, awareness and knowledge