Table 2 List of the thirteen alleged myths and proportion of residents that believed in each of them
Essential topic | Alleged myth | n (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
Medical importance | Myth 1 | “Mosquitoes only cause mild clinical consequences such as allergies, fever, etc”. | 643 (54 · 4) |
Myth 2 | “Mosquitoes do not transmit diseases”. | 162 (13 · 7) | |
Local risk | Myth 3 and Myth 4 | “Dengue is not a mosquito-borne disease” and/or “Dengue only occur in tropical/non-developed countries”. | 222 (18 · 8) |
Myth 5 and Myth 6 | “Since I do not feel the byte, I am not at risk of being bitten/infected” and/or “Mosquitoes are allocated in a specific area and are not able to spread through the island”. | 188 (15 · 9) | |
Myth 7 | “Madeira’s residents are not at risk”. | 590 (49 · 9) | |
Domestic attribute | Myth 8 | “Local health authorities are the key intervenient in the control of mosquitoes”. | 76 (6 · 4) |
Myth 9 | “Insecticides or other protective measures can control mosquitoes”. | 543 (45 · 9) | |
Myth 10 | “I am (Community is) not an intervenient in the aegypti-control”. | 590 (49 · 9) | |
Mosquito breeding | Myth 11 and Myth 12 | “Clean houses or houses without pets/animals do not have mosquitoes” and/or “Clean people have nothing to do concerning the control of mosquitoes”. | 714 (60 · 4) |
Control measures | Myth 13 | “By the usage of insecticides and/or flyswatter, I am already contributing to the aegypti-control”. | 942 (79 · 7) |