RIYADH, 21 July — Authorities have taken intensive measures to prevent recurrence of Rift Valley Fever in the Kingdom after reports that the deadly disease has appeared in neighboring Iraq.
Health Minister Dr. Osama Shubokshi told Arab News that he had instructed the agency for preventive medicine to closely follow up the situation. The Kingdom shares a 814-kilometer-long border with its northeastern neighbor.
The disease has killed 120 people out of a total of 863 infected cases in the Kingdom since September last year. It also caused a large number of animal deaths in southwestern parts of the country.
Abdul Aziz Saad Al-Shathry, undersecretary at the Agriculture Ministry, said the Kingdom had banned import of cattle from many countries as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of RVF, foot-and-mouth disease and Nile fever. The measures helped to bring the disease under control.
Dr. Omar Hashim, acting director of animal and botanical quarantine at the ministry, said the Kingdom had not received any official confirmation from international organizations regarding the RVF outbreak in Iraq. However, he said quarantine agencies along the border were closely monitoring the situation and with the support of border guards would prevent smuggling of infected cattle into the country. Cattle traders have said cross-border smuggling from Iraq have gone down considerably due to closer monitoring.
Al-Shathry pointed out that his ministry had inoculated all animals in Jizan, Tihama Asir, Qunfuda, Laith, Meghwat and Qalwa after the RVF outbreak in the southern region last September.
Mosquitoes carry the virus from infected animals to humans. In humans the incubation period is two to six days, so the virus replicates swiftly, in some cases producing no symptoms, in others causing a mild illness associated with fever and liver abnormalities.
