JEDDAH, 7 September 2004 — Agriculture Minister Dr. Fahd Balghaneim has called on cattle owners and breeders in the southern Jizan region to take precautionary measures against Rift Valley Fever after reports that five animals in the region had tested positive for the deadly virus.
The minister, however, downplayed the new RVF outbreak saying there was only “a limited activity of the virus” in the region. His ministry was implementing a comprehensive plan to deal with the situation and prevent the spread of the disease.
The Agriculture Ministry discovered five positive samples of the virus — four in Abu Areesh and one in Aaridah — during periodic examinations, the Saudi Press Agency said, quoting the minister.
“These positive results from the tests do not mean that the situation in the region has reached epidemic proportions,” Balghaneim said.
The RVF outbreak in Jizan killed more than 125 people three years ago. In April this year the ministry lifted a three-year-old ban on the movement of livestock between regions hit by the virus. The authorities agreed to lift the ban in light of a ministerial committee report which said the campaign to contain the disease had been successful. “The situation is now stable as no RVF viral activity has been found in humans, animals or mosquitoes,” Balghaneim said when the ban was lifted.
The minister urged the authorities to be cautious about the RVF virus, which is capable of surviving in the eggs of mosquitoes for a long time and can surface whenever its finds a hospitable environment.
The Agriculture Ministry has set up an early warning unit to monitor and contain infectious diseases affecting agricultural and animal resources in certain regions before they spread to other parts of the Kingdom. The ministry also established a laboratory in Jizan to carry out medical tests and check the effectiveness of insecticides.
RVF primarily affects animals but occasionally causes illness in humans, where it leads to high morbidity and mortality. According to the World Health Organization, many different species of mosquitoes are vectors for the RVF virus.
