JEDDAH, 25 April 2003 — The 13-year-old boy who died in Jeddah recently of what could be the Kingdom’s first case of SARS was not Sri Lankan, as was incorrectly reported in the print edition of Arab News yesterday.
The Sri Lankan Consul General in Jeddah, A.C.M. Ibrahim, clarified yesterday that “no such patient of Sri Lankan nationality was admitted to Erfan Hospital affected by the deadly virus.”
The consul general pointed out that Sri Lanka was not among the countries listed as affected by the virus and that the country had taken all necessary measures to remain safe from the infection.
Mazen Madani Enebsi, the 13-year-old boy who died, was in fact a Saudi national, who lived with his family in Jeddah.
According to Dr. Sayed Oraby of Dr. Erfan and Bagedo General Hospital, Mazen died of pneumonia, which is a bacterial, not a viral, infection.
“Mazen suffered from bilateral bacterial (streptococcal pneumoniae) pneumonia complicated by septicemia (blood sepsis) and leading to acute respiratory failure secondary to development of adult respiratory distress syndrome and severe toxic myocarditis. It was proved by laboratory workup that the nature of the causative organism is bacteria (streptococcal pneumonia),” he said in his final diagnosis.
However, in an interview yesterday with Arab News the dead Saudi boy’s family reiterated they still believed that Mazen showed all the symptoms of a viral infection resembling Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
Abdullah Al-Dereni, Mazen’s uncle, said his nephew’s condition deteriorated rapidly before he died a week ago.
“I was watching TV program about SARS yesterday, and Mazen had most of the symptoms of SARS — both his eyes and chest were swollen, and he had turned pale,” he told Arab News. Another family member, who asked to remain anonymous, told Arab News that Mazen died only 18 hours after becoming sick.
“We got a call from Mazen’s school informing us that he was very sick. We took him to a clinic where they prescribed him a fever remedy,” he added.
The family took the boy home, but Mazen’s condition did not improve.
“Finally, we took him back to the clinic, but by then he couldn’t walk. We took him to Erfan Hospital, where a few hours later they transferred him to intensive care,” the relative explained.
After another few hours the family was told that one of Mazen’s lungs had failed, he said. Given what they saw as contradictory information by the doctor, the family wanted Mazen to be transferred to another hospital.
“But only 18 hours after being taken ill he died. This was very strange,” he said.
He said the doctors were all wearing surgical masks and made the family wear them too.
“The hospital also warned us not to kiss the body or touch it unless we were wearing surgical gloves, so we washed the body wearing gloves and masks,” he added.
The uncle, Abdullah Al-Dereni, said Ministry of Health staff did not carry out any safety checks or quarantine measures in the family house or at the boy’s school afterward.
“The parents and other family members went for a checkup on their own, without any recommendations from the ministry,” he said.
“We expected more clarification about the symptoms of our boy and what really he actually suffered from.”
The Sri Lankan maid who started working for the family two weeks before the boy fell ill was very sick and “not fit to work,” he said.
“We were wondering how she managed to get through immigration. She was vomiting continuously. She looked very sick and so we sent her back to the recruiting office. We know nothing about her, not even if she is still in Jeddah. But soon after she left the household, Mazen got sick and died.”
