Although, technical support these hospitals consist of a heterogeneous population coming from different backgrounds, they cannot be used to predict the overall situation in the country. Furthermore, convenient sampling was employed, which may have led to selection bias, and hence is not truly representative of the population under study. However, since this was just an observational study, the sampling method did seem to fulfill its purpose. Another limitation that could have affected the outcome of our study is the possibility of recall bias with regard to vaccination status. However, since our main aim was to elucidate the reasons for non-vaccination, recall bias may not have played a significant role. Conclusion The most common primary reason for non-vaccination, i.e.

lack of knowledge, indicates that the ongoing advertisement campaigns have partially failed to achieve the success desired, whereas the most common secondary reason, i.e. religious taboos, implies that many people believe that vaccination is forbidden in religion, a misconception that is further propagated by religious leaders. Hence, there is dire need to promote awareness among the masses in collaboration with NGOs, and major religious and social organizations. Competing interests The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interests. Authors�� contributions AS conceived the topic of the study and was involved in designing the study and analyzing data. BI, AE, MR, HS, HA, JN, SA, MZ, TW, WW and AA were involved in data collection. AS was involved in drafting the initial manuscript.

BI, AE, MR, HS, HA, JN, SA, MZ, TW, WW and AA critically revised the manuscript, and their names are listed in decreasing order of their contributions. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Health symptoms attributed to environmental agents are an extensive occupational and public health problem. Apart from toxic and allergenic substances, symptoms are commonly attributed to chemicals and biological materials (e.g., mold) that generate odor and sensory irritation (e.g., pungency), to electrical equipment that generate electromagnetic fields (EMF), and to mechanical phenomena that generate sound. Health effects of exposure to strong EMF are well documented, and such exposure is controlled by regulations and guidelines [1]. However, there is no existing evidence for health effects from low-level EMF exposure.

Instead there is evidence for a nocebo effect in triggering acute health effects [2-4]. Nevertheless, health problems evoked in the presence of electrical equipment is a concern. Clinical diagnoses for these environmental intolerances (EI) include multiple chemical sensitivity Cilengitide (MCS) [5], nonspecific building-related symptoms (sick building syndrome) [6], idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields (IEI-EMF) [7], and sound sensitivity (hyperacusis) [8]. As many as 6.