RIYADH: With the world on alert for the spread of the H1N1 type A influenza virus, Saudi municipal authorities are implementing precautionary measures to keep the virus out of the Kingdom.
“The Riyadh municipality, or for that matter all municipal entities and health institutions across the Kingdom, are geared to control such epidemics,” said Municipal Health Department spokesman Soliman Hamad Al-Buthi yesterday. “We await any advisory from the Ministry of Health.”
Al-Buthi said chances of swine flu arriving in the Kingdom are low since “Saudi Arabia, unlike several other countries in the Middle East, neither import pork nor do pig farming.”
The H1N1 virus is being spread by human-to-human contact. Egypt recently began a massive campaign to slaughter the country’s estimated 250,000 pigs.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says there is no evidence to show that pigs are playing a major role in spreading the H1N1 virus, but it has not ruled out the need for curtailing the trade of the livestock.
Al-Buthi said health laboratories of the Kingdom have installed necessary equipment to diagnose the H1N1 virus and treat any possible cases in the future in cooperation with WHO.
Three laboratories in Saudi Arabia and a US laboratory have been identified as reference laboratories for the Gulf region in case of any outbreak of H1N1.
Health officials are advising anyone who falls ill after traveling to a country affected by H1N1 to go in for a checkup as soon as possible.
In Bahrain, pharmacies have been stocking up on anti-flu drugs. The demands have been further pushed after Bahrain registered its first swine flu suspect case last week. Some pharmacies have placed extra orders of Tamiflu.
But health officials say they have stockpiled enough anti-viral drugs to cover more than 20 percent of the island’s population.
Bahrain became the first country in the GCC to register its first swine flu suspect case. The patient later tested negative for the virus.
Bahrain’s Ministry of Municipalities and Agriculture Affairs has already banned import of all pork products from any of the countries that have confirmed cases of the illness.
