JEDDAH, 11 March — Flu, the most common viral infection that can spread because of close proximity with infected people, was on focus during this year’s Haj. “Don’t let flu stop you from performing Haj” was the message in a booklet titled “A guide to Haj, Umrah” published by the Muslim World League. Hoffmann-La Roche sponsored 350,000 of these booklets. It was in 6 different languages and distributed among pilgrims.
“I spent my days in Mina delirious from the effects of fever, chills, headaches and body pains and was forced to appoint a fellow pilgrim to throw pebbles at the Jamrat on my behalf. I cannot explain how difficult it was to perform Tawaf,” the booklet quotes a pilgrim saying.
The booklet also had information useful to pilgrims in Arabic, Urdu, Indonesian, Turkish and English. Important useful contacts, international dialing codes and consulate telephone numbers were among the other contents of the booklet.
Pilgrims returning from the Haj said the booklet had very useful tips on the performance of Haj or Umrah, visit to Madinah to pray at the Prophet’s Mosque errors often committed by pilgrims.
The February issue of Saudi Arabian Airlines’ in-flight magazine Ahlan Wasahlan also carried an article about flu in Arabic and how influenza could be effectively treated instantly with a breakthrough oral treatment.
Informative booklets on flu were also distributed at the Haj Terminal, in the tent cities of pilgrims and hotels.
The drug manufacturing company distributed Mosque-shaped alarm clocks among pilgrims with information that doctors could be consulted for the new drug for treatment of influenza.
“We tried to educate the pilgrims about the symptoms of flu like sudden onset of fever, chills, headache, body pains and cough. So whenever anyone experiences these symptoms, they should immediately consult a doctor or a pharmacist. The oral treatment is the “first neuraminidase inhibitor in pill form. The earlier it is taken the better it is,” Farid Hasan, Jeddah-based product manager of Roche Pharmaceuticals, who participated in an anti-flu campaign in the holy places, said.
Roche representatives — Dr. Ahmed Alzahaby, Dr. Yasser Jasser along with Hasan — visited the medical teams of Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco, Singapore and South Africa and informed them about the latest oral treatment for influenza.
“The new treatment significantly reduces secondary complications and antibiotic usage. With this, you can now treat the cause of influenza, not just the symptoms,” he emphasized.
Hoffmann-La Roche has meanwhile started a RealFlu surveillance program to accurately detect, monitor and report influenza activity based on influenza-like-illness consultations and rapid test data from eight different centers in Makkah and 11 centers in Jeddah. “We’re in the process of taking approval from the Ministry of Health so that we can expand its scope to its hospitals and primary care clinics. In the next phase we plan to include Riyadh as well. Experience shows that physicians can diagnose influenza much more accurately if they know whether influenza is prevalent at a certain time in a certain area,” Hasan added.
The backbone of the program is a diagnostics test-kit called Influenza A/B Rapid Test (IRT), which gives the results within 12 minutes. Roche Diagnostics recently developed it. Roche will provide the test kits free of charge to selected centers.
According to Hasan, the first oral neuraminidase inhibitor in pill form is meant for the treatment of influenza A and B - the most common forms of flu. The pill attacks the influenza virus and stops it from spreading inside the body. Thus it treats flu at its source rather than simply masking the symptoms.
“To get the maximum benefit, the patient when experiencing sudden onset of fever, chills, headache and body pains should consult the doctor within 24 hours. Usually, the patient feels better within a day. Normally patients consult the doctor two or three days after the symptoms appear. We’ve a difficult task to educate the public in this regard,” Hasan said, adding: “Real benefits of the product can only be seen if the drug is taken within 24 hours.”
