JEDDAH, 31 August 2003 — The director of protective health care affairs, Dr. Ghazi Sheikh, has denied the presence of any new cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF). He told Arab News that all samples of suspected dengue cases received had been negative.

According to Dr. Sheikh, the samples came from Qunfudha. The director of health centers there, however, told Okaz that the symptoms of dengue fever had appeared in a man who lived in Jeddah but with relatives in Qunfudha and that there were no cases of dengue fever in Qunfudha.

Arab News first reported the outbreak of the potentially deadly virus in February. A source at the Jeddah Regional Laboratory confirmed at the time that seven Saudis were infected with dengue fever but that the disease was in its early stages and all cases were under control.

Dengue viruses are transmitted to humans through the bites of infected female aedes mosquitoes. The mosquitoes usually acquire the virus while feeding on the blood of an infected person. The symptoms of dengue are similar to influenza plus a severe rash or rashes. The risk of infection is greater in urban areas that facilitate mosquito breeding places such as household water storage or where solid waste disposal services are inadequate.

Jeddah is full of pools of stagnant water, overflowing septic tanks, a rising water table surfacing through holes in pavements and on waste ground, leaking sewage tankers, leaking water pipes, and inadequate if not non-existent drainage. All of these help mosquitoes to breed and spread the disease.

“With people coming to Saudi Arabia from countries which have dengue fever, and as long as the transmitting mosquito is found wherever there are stagnant water pools, the possibility exists for new cases but so far we haven’t confirmed any,” said Dr. Sheikh.

A special committee has been set up by the Jeddah Municipality and the Directorate of Health Affairs in the Western Region. Its duty is to spray and disinfect areas in which the disease is found or judged likely to appear. The committee will also educate the public on how to fight and kill mosquitoes.

Arab News spoke to residents of some neighborhoods where there is leaking sewage and pools of stagnant water and they had not heard of dengue fever nor had they seen the stagnant water being drained away.