Anticipated and current preventive behaviors in response to an anticipated human-to-human H5N1 epidemic in the Hong Kong Chinese general population

Table 2 Anticipated health-related behavioral responses if 2 to 3 new human-to-human H5N1 cases were to be reported in Hong Kong

	Gender			Age group			Education level			All
	Male	Female		18 – 34	35 – 60		≤Matriculated	≥University
(% Likely/very likely) ^a	Col%	Col%	p	Col%	Col%	p	Col%	Col%	p	Col%
Face mask use in public venues	75.6	72.1	.37	65.1	78.9	*<.01*	75.4	70.5	.24	73.8
Increased frequency of handwashing	87.2	86.2	.76	81.7	89.6	*.01*	88.4	83.8	.14	86.7
Avoidance of eating poultry	61.1	66.2	.24	55.9	68.5	*<.01*	63.8	63.6	.96	63.8
Full compliance with any quarantine policies	86.8	89.6	.32	85.5	89.9	.14	87.5	89.6	.50	88.3
Face mask use in public venues if having ILI symptoms	90.6	94.1	.14	91.4	93.1	.50	90.6	96.0	*.03*	92.4
Declaration of ILI symptoms at border health checkpoints	89.3	85.1	.16	84.9	88.3	.28	86.3	88.4	.50	87.1
Seeking of medical consultation immediately with the onset of a fever	94.4	94.1	.85	95.2	93.7	.50	94.2	94.2	1.00	94.2
Total number of the above anticipated behaviors
None	0.4	0.4	.06	1.1	0.0	*.01*	0.6	0.0	.29	0.4
1	0.4	0.4		0.5	0.3		0.6	0.0		0.4
2	1.7	1.9		3.2	0.9		2.1	1.2		1.8
3	6.4	3.0		4.8	4.4		4.0	5.8		4.6
4	2.6	7.8		6.5	4.7		4.0	8.1		5.4
5	16.7	18.6		20.4	16.1		17.9	17.3		17.7
6	34.2	26.0		33.9	27.4		31.6	26.0		29.8
All 7	37.6	42.0		29.6	46.1		39.2	41.6		40.0

^a Answer options include 'very likely', 'likely', 'unlikely', 'very unlikely' and 'not certain'.

ISSN: 1471-2334