METHODOLOGY
An unmatched case-control study was conducted. One hundred and thirty-eight (138) cases and 276 controls were enrolled (1:2 ratio) from seventeen villages of Salavan district, Salavan province Lao PDR. The reported cases were recorded from 20 to 2011, the National Center for Laboratory and Epidemiology in Vientiane capital, Lao PDR, while, 276 controls were randomly selected. The study was conducted from February to March 2012. Pretesting of 50 questionnaires was conducted in Houai Leusi village, Bachieng district, Champasak province where there were reported of human cases of anthrax in 2011. Questions about knowledge part, reliability test was done and Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.77 which is acceptable. The interview was conducted in Lao language. The form was edited on wording to make the questions more clear and understandable. The validated and pre-tested questionnaire was administered to the participants. Data collection was done by face to face interview and observation form was used as a check list for each individual person, to observe environmental setting of their house, parent or gradient of children less than 12 years old were interviewed as the representative.
Binary logistic regression was used to identify association and its strength between each independent variables and dependent variable which is anthrax infection. Each variable was analyzed one at the time.
This study was approved by the National Ethics Committee for Health Research (NECHR) of the Lao PDR.