Saudi Arabia: 2010 Dengue cases

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Source: http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=2010041769627

Saturday, 17 April 2010
Temporary staff ?cause? dengue spread
By Saud Al-Barkati

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...Jeddah has witnessed an increase in dengue fever cases for 14 consecutive weeks, with reports stating that 84 cases have been registered in the last few weeks, mostly in the south of the city. Residents in Ghulail, Hindawiya, Al-Balad and Kilo 14 have repeatedly appealed to the authorities to double eradication efforts in their districts where breeding grounds for Dengue-carrying mosquitoes proliferate. ? Okaz/SG

 

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Re: Saudi Arabia: 2010 Dengue cases

Source: http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=2010042470317

94 new cases of dengue in one week
By Saud Al-Barakati

JEDDAH ? The municipality has pointed the finger at the Mayor?s Office and called for a new strategy to tackle dengue fever after 94 new cases were detected in Jeddah last week, bringing the total number of cases in the first 15 weeks of 2010 to 363.
?The mayoralty has failed to eradicate dengue fever, and it?s becoming of increasing concern to everyone,? said Bassam Akhdar of the Municipality Council. ?Even my private secretary contracted it.?
Reports show that despite intensified efforts by the mayoralty in spraying the city and drafting in emergency teams, dengue has continued to spread in the south Jeddah districts of Ghulail, Mada?in Al-Fahd, and Al-Karantina...

 

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Re: Saudi Arabia: 2010 Dengue cases

Source: http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article47908.ece

Dengue spread due to water shortage

By SARAH ABDULLAH | ARAB NEWS

Published: Apr 27, 2010 23:08 Updated: Apr 27, 2010 23:08

JEDDAH: The recent increase in cases of dengue fever in the southern districts of Jeddah is due to an inadequate amount of drinking water to the area, according to Amer Hamzah Asseri of the Biochemistry Department at King Abdulaziz University (KAU) who is also supervisor of the Municipality Fumigation and Research Program.

Asseri said the Ministry of Health estimates that there have been about 400 cases of dengue fever since the beginning of the year. The districts that have faced the biggest dengue threat include: Karantina, Jamiah, Madain Al-Fahd, Nuzla Yemania and Nuzla Al-Sharqiah.

?The weekly water distributed to residents in the southern area is not enough, therefore these residents are forced to keep large open containers of water for home use,? said Asseri.

Standing water is literally a breeding ground for disease-carrying mosquitoes. Asseri said a general lack of awareness on proper water-storage techniques is helping spread the disease...

 

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Re: Saudi Arabia: 2010 Dengue cases

Source: http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=2010050271104

Who?s responsible for the dengue outbreak?
By Saud Al-Barakati
JEDDAH ? A day after five government agencies met to discuss ways to combat an outbreak of dengue fever ? which has already infected hundreds of people - officials from the mayoralty and the health affairs department started blaming each other for the situation.
The meeting took place Saturday and was meant to come up with solutions; instead a war of words has broken out between officials from the two government bodies.
Over 200 people contracted the disease over the past two weeks. A total of 750 cases over the past 16 weeks have been confirmed.
The Directorate of Health Affairs accused the mayoralty of ignoring its warning that it should deal with the breeding grounds of disease carriers. The mayoralty replied that the information provided by Health Affairs officials did not accurately reflect the magnitude of the problem, which affected the response to the disease.
Bassam Akhdhar, member of the Municipal Council in Jeddah, said that he held the Ministry of Health and the mayoralty accountable for the increase in dengue fever cases. He also accused cleaning companies in Jeddah for not cleaning up heaps of garbage in southern and central Jeddah. He said it was a common sight to see the dirt and waste around the buildings and residential areas in these districts.
He claimed that the emergency plan was ?nothing but ink on paper? because it was not being implemented. He also expressed doubts about the authenticity and accuracy of the information provided by the Ministry of Health. He said this alleged inaccurate information aggravated the problem in Jeddah and was a reflection of the weak response to combating the disease.
He called on the Directorate of Health Affairs and Jeddah Mayoralty to stop blaming each other because this will not solve the problem. He said residents were the ones suffering. ? Okaz/SG

 

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Re: Saudi Arabia: 2010 Dengue cases

Source: http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidZAWYA20100503033029/Plan to launch anti-dengue campaign in KSA

Plan to launch anti-dengue campaign
Arab News
03 May 2010

JEDDAH: The officials of five government departments entrusted with the task of fighting dengue fever in Jeddah met here on Saturday to set plans to carry out an intensive campaign against the disease during the summer when the number of disease-carrying mosquitoes usually increase.

The meeting, which was presided over by Jeddah Gov. Prince Mishaal, comes after reports that about 710 people in the city have been affected by dengue in the last four months.

Informed sources told Arab News that the meeting urged participating departments to do their jobs promptly without blaming others and that defaulters would be punished.

The five departments that attended the meeting were the Jeddah Governorate, Jeddah Municipality, Jeddah Health Affairs Department, the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Water Company.

Prince Mishaal has instructed officials to carry out an emergency plan to exterminate dengue-carrying mosquitoes in the city. A number of officials have been deployed in various districts across the city to monitor cases of dengue. These officials have taken 70 pictures of houses that are located close to mosquito-breeding swamps.

Bassam Akhdar, a member of the Municipal Council, said the government departments in charge of combating dengue had failed to do their job.

"During the last two weeks alone 200 new cases of dengue have been reported. This proves that the departments are not doing their job perfectly," he said.

By GALAL FAKKAR

 

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Re: Saudi Arabia: 2010 Dengue cases

Source: http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100504/FOREIGN/705039882/1002/NEWS

Dengue fever linked to corruption in Saudi

Wael Madhi, Foreign Correspondent

* Last Updated: May 03. 2010 10:07PM UAE / May 3. 2010 6:07PM GMT

JEDDAH // The Asian tiger mosquito is becoming a source of terror in the costal city of Jeddah after it infected 147 people with dengue fever in the past week alone, bringing the total number of reported cases this year to more than 700.

City officials and environmentalists are blaming the municipality for not properly using the eight billion riyals (Dh7.8bn) allocated by King Abdullah to fight the disease in the poor neighbourhoods in the southern and eastern sections of the city. These are the same areas that were hit hardest by the floods that killed more than 200 people last November.

Although no fatalities have yet been recorded, dengue fever is a potentially fatal disease leaving victims suffering variously from headaches, fever, muscle and joint pains, as well as vomiting and diarrhoea.

The criticism against the municipality rose sharply after a government agency, the Control and Investigation Board, last month accused six municipality officials of embezzling 100 million riyals out of the money allocated to fight dengue...

 

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Re: Saudi Arabia: 2010 Dengue cases

Source: http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=2010051572364

Dengue cases: 857... and counting
By Muhammad Hadhadh

JEDDAH ? Hussein Al-Barr, head of the Health and Environment Committee at Jeddah?s Municipal Council, has said that ?pressures from monitoring authorities on anti-dengue fever program spending? is partially to blame for the 857 cases of the illness detected so far this year, a rate of seven new cases per week.

?These pressures have created instability in the financial and administrative system and in staff at the mayoralty, leading to some staff on the program being moved to other sectors after having their contracts terminated,? Al-Barr said.

Al-Barr expressed his dismay at the ?termination of the contracts of most employees on the anti-dengue program?.

?The Mayor of Jeddah should have refused to terminate the contracts? the procedure has affected the program?s progress and disrupted its plans, and consequently we have seen a rise in the number of recorded dengue cases,? he said.

Al-Barr said the program required ?set financial resources for the next few years? with collaboration from King Abdulaziz University, the ministries of Agriculture and Health, and the Mayor?s Office.

?I?d also like to see a weekly meeting of all parties involved in combating dengue fever to lay down a properly studied and researched plan of action and not one based on improvised responses,? he said.

?We could also set up a data bank using scientific analysis to take the appropriate action.?

Al-Barr noted that dengue fever was hitting particularly hard in the southern districts of Jeddah, with 90 percent of cases being detected in Al-Jami?a, Ghulail and Khuzam, but was unable to provide figures on the number of deaths.

?I have no information on that. You?ll have to ask the Ministry of Health,? he said.

Al-Barr?s remarks followed a Jeddah Municipal Council gathering last Wednesday which concluded that more money and staff were required to confront the illness. ? Okaz/SG

The Mayor?s Office gave a presentation during which the rise in cases was blamed on a ?lack of officials and poor materials?, and reportedly described the current situation as ?extremely worrying?. ? Okaz/SG