JEDDAH, 22 November 2005 — Saudi Arabia is free from bird flu, Health Minister Dr. Hamad Al-Manie said yesterday after opening a major international conference on the disease in Riyadh. “No bird flu cases have been reported in the Kingdom so far,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted the minister as saying.
The minister said the government has taken adequate precautionary measures to prevent any bird flu outbreak in the country. “They include intense monitoring of suspected cases and awareness campaigns,” he told reporters in Riyadh.
Top officials from various government departments addressed the opening session of the conference, explaining their plans to confront the disease.
Dr. Sahl Al-Sabban of the Haj Ministry said his ministry had taken measures to protect pilgrims and prevent any bird flu outbreak during the Haj season.
“We have informed all foreign governments about health conditions to be followed by their pilgrims,” Sabban said, adding that the pilgrims would not be allowed to bring foodstuffs into to the Kingdom.
He said the ministry would closely monitor pilgrims on arrival and take any suspected cases of bird flu infection to hospitals.
“We will also ensure that all officials and workers involved in Haj operations are free of the disease,” Sabban said.
“We will also closely monitor the catering companies which supply food to the pilgrims and ask them to comply with health requirements,” he added.
He said the Haj Ministry would assign field teams at its emergency and operations departments, the Tawafa organizations and other related pilgrim service agencies to follow up safety measures.
“We’ll also mobilize all our resources to carry out health instructions and preventive measures,” he added. “We are making sure that only fit and healthy Muslims enter Saudi Arabia for the Haj.”
Sabban’s assurances came amid fears that the more than two million pilgrims who gather in Makkah for the annual Haj would risk creating the conditions in which a pandemic strain of the bird flu could emerge.
The deadly H5N1 form of bird flu has killed 67 people in five countries in Asia over the past two years. Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country, has confirmed seven deaths.
The virus cannot pass among people the way ordinary seasonal flu does, but experts fear it could mutate into a form, which can be transmitted from person to person. The risk of mutation would be increased if anyone with bird flu came to Makkah and mingled with people with seasonal flu among the huge crowds.
In addition to regular health checks imposed on foreigners wanting to visit the Kingdom, authorities plan a campaign soon to widen vaccination against common human flu among pilgrims, said Dr. Amin Mishkhas, head of infectious diseases at the Health Ministry.
“We have spent SR25 million to treat and prevent flu especially among people in direct contact with birds,” Mishkhas said. The ministry has also opened centers in three key cities, including Jeddah —a key entry point for pilgrims — to track down bird flu contamination cases, he added.
Throughout history, Makkah, Madinah and Jeddah have been hit by deadly diseases like cholera and meningitis during the Haj, Mishkhas said.
A royal decree has been issued banning the import of all kinds of birds into the Kingdom. “This measure has been taken due to the dangers of bird flu and also after its appearance in countries near the Kingdom,” the Saudi Press Agency said, quoting Agriculture Minister Fahd Balghaneim.
“What Saudi authorities deployed in terms of efforts and prevention measures is remarkable,” said Didier Pittet, who leads a campaign by the World Health Organization to prevent infection among patients.
The first documented cases of bird flu in people occurred in 1997 in Hong Kong, where six people died. The current flu virus strain appeared in people in 2003.
More than 150 million chickens and ducks have died from the germ or been slaughtered.
Nearly all of the 67 human victims caught the virus from close contact with sick chickens, with only one confirmed case of a person infecting another person.
