Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/World/Story/STIStory_392194.html
June 18, 2009
A(H1N1) FLU OUTBREAK
Rising flu threat from pilgrims
RIYADH - SAUDI ARABIA is gearing up for a possible outbreak of A(H1N1) flu among Muslim pilgrims to Mecca after the first case in the holy city was detected in a Malaysian boy, a senior health official said.
The nine year old boy was found with his family in a hotel near Mecca's Grand Mosque and referred to a local hospital after tests showed he was infected with the A(H1N1) flu virus, the health ministry said.
His was one of five new cases announced on Wednesday, taking the total to 22 since the disease first appeared in the kingdom on June 3.
The case underscored the threat of an outbreak of the disease among the more than two million Muslims expected to arrive in the country from around the world during the August-December pilgrimage season, health ministry spokesman Khaled Marghlani said.
Host to Islam's two holiest sites, Mecca and Medina, the Saudi government is already working with experts from the World Health Organisation and other international organisations to finalise a plan for dealing with the threat, Marghlani told AFP on Wednesday.
'The whole world is worried about it,' he said. 'We are trying very hard. The people coming here are guests of Allah.'
The health ministry has stockpiled doses of the antiviral medication Tamiflu equivalent to 10 per cent of the country's 25.3 million population, he said.
Commercial pharmacies have been reporting heavy sales of the drug as well amid rising public concern, according to media reports. Tamiflu is effective in treating swine flu in its early stages.
Before the Malaysian boy's case, members of a Mauritanian family visiting Medina from Canada were diganosed with A(H1N1), underscoring the threat that already exists from the thousands of off-season pilgrims undertaking the umrah, or minor pilgrimage.
The government expects the threat to rise dramatically when the umrah season picks up in late August, during the fasting month of Ramadan, and then with the main hajj pilgrimage in late November, Marghlani said. -- AFP
June 18, 2009
A(H1N1) FLU OUTBREAK
Rising flu threat from pilgrims
RIYADH - SAUDI ARABIA is gearing up for a possible outbreak of A(H1N1) flu among Muslim pilgrims to Mecca after the first case in the holy city was detected in a Malaysian boy, a senior health official said.
The nine year old boy was found with his family in a hotel near Mecca's Grand Mosque and referred to a local hospital after tests showed he was infected with the A(H1N1) flu virus, the health ministry said.
His was one of five new cases announced on Wednesday, taking the total to 22 since the disease first appeared in the kingdom on June 3.
The case underscored the threat of an outbreak of the disease among the more than two million Muslims expected to arrive in the country from around the world during the August-December pilgrimage season, health ministry spokesman Khaled Marghlani said.
Host to Islam's two holiest sites, Mecca and Medina, the Saudi government is already working with experts from the World Health Organisation and other international organisations to finalise a plan for dealing with the threat, Marghlani told AFP on Wednesday.
'The whole world is worried about it,' he said. 'We are trying very hard. The people coming here are guests of Allah.'
The health ministry has stockpiled doses of the antiviral medication Tamiflu equivalent to 10 per cent of the country's 25.3 million population, he said.
Commercial pharmacies have been reporting heavy sales of the drug as well amid rising public concern, according to media reports. Tamiflu is effective in treating swine flu in its early stages.
Before the Malaysian boy's case, members of a Mauritanian family visiting Medina from Canada were diganosed with A(H1N1), underscoring the threat that already exists from the thousands of off-season pilgrims undertaking the umrah, or minor pilgrimage.
The government expects the threat to rise dramatically when the umrah season picks up in late August, during the fasting month of Ramadan, and then with the main hajj pilgrimage in late November, Marghlani said. -- AFP