RIYADH, 3 January 2005 — The Kingdom has drawn up a national contingency plan to protect its citizens and pilgrims against influenza following an international alert issued by the World Health Organization.
This was disclosed to Arab News by Dr. Amin Mishkhas, director of infectious diseases at the Ministry of Health, who said the problem could become alarming, since a new strain of flu virus develops each year and is not amenable to treatment by the existing vaccines. The WHO alert was against what is feared to be the outbreak of the fourth Asian pandemic deadlier than the Spanish influenza of 1918 and 1919, the Asian flu of 1957 and the Hong Kong flu of 1968 in which millions of people lost their lives.
Spelling out the measures taken by the Kingdom as part of the contingency plan, Dr. Amin said the authorities have already stocked the vaccines against influenza. Children and elderly people suffering from chronic diseases such as heart ailments, diabetes and cancer, among others, will be vaccinated along with health workers and muttawiff (Haj guides) operating in the Haj areas. “To start with, we shall take samples (from suspected cases) to find out what type of virus is prevalent in this region. This will be the first step in building laboratory surveillance for influenza,” he added.
Dr. Amin said: “What has happened is that countries situated between the two hemispheres have not developed a suitable vaccine against this virus, which always goes through a mutation requiring new vaccines to be developed every year.”
He pointed out that WHO has asked these countries to join the International Network of Influenza Surveillance (INIS), also known as FluNet, by taking samples of suspected patients and sending the result to the network. Dr. Amin said heightened concerns over the pandemic stem from various factors, including the tsunami disaster leading to the collapse of sewage and sanitary services. This has spawned a situation conducive to the growth of the flu virus.
“We already know the havoc caused by SARS and more recently the avian flu. This is nothing compared to what could happen if the flu virus is not controlled in time,” said Dr. Amin.
