RIYADH: The Ministry of Health, for the second consecutive day, announced on Friday two more swine flu deaths among Saudis in the Kingdom, bringing the total number of fatalities to four.
The first victim was identified only as Abdullah, a 32-year-old Saudi nurse, who died at the Al-Nafi government hospital, located 100 km from Al-Ras in Qassim province. Abdullah was working in a hospital in Taif and was transferred to the region on his request three weeks ago. He developed high fever and was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday following complaints of breathing difficulties.
The second victim was a 25-year-old Saudi youth, who died at the Al-Namas government hospital, 30 km from Abha, the capital of Asir province. He was admitted Tuesday to the hospital for a severe sore throat and a chest infection. He was reportedly a chain smoker with bronchitis, which doctors say could have played a role in his death.
The other two patients who succumbed to swine flu included a 30-year-old Saudi man who died at Al-Mouwasat Private Hospital in Dammam and an Indonesian woman resident, 28, who passed away at the Dammam Central Hospital. The reported deaths now span the length of the country: the Eastern Province, centrally situated Qassim and southwestern Asir.
Health Ministry spokesman Dr. Khalid Al-Mirghalani told Arab News that such deaths are expected due to the rapid spread of the virus. “Knowing well the effects of the flu, the ministry has taken adequate measures Kingdomwide to counter its spread,” Al-Mirghalani said.
He called on the members of the public to cooperate with his ministry to fight the disease.
On behalf of his officials, Health Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah conveyed his sympathies to the bereaved families and reaffirmed his determination to take effective steps and check the spread of the virus.
The situation is more pertinent for Saudi Arabia considering the upcoming Haj and Umrah during Ramadan, when millions of pilgrims from all over the world will convene in Makkah, most of whom will pass through Jeddah and venture up to Madinah to visit the Prophet’s Mosque during their stay.
The concern over pilgrims has Iran contemplating a ban on performing Umrah during Ramadan. “Umrah during Ramadan will either be very restricted or even canceled if necessary,” Iran’s Health Minister Kamran Bagheri Lankarani told the ILNA news agency.
Al-Rabeeah is expected to brief the press today on the measures that his ministry plans to take to combat the spread of H1N1.
A doctor who works for a specialized government hospital in the capital said that such deaths need not cause panic among the people since the patients who died may have had other chronic ailments such as leukemia, obesity and acute lung disease.
“Patients who are under medications to increase immunity are also susceptible hosts to the swine flu,” he said, pointing out that healthy people who get the flu will recover from the illness soon if timely treatment is given. “The quick recovery of more than 300 patients in the Kingdom bears eloquent testimony to this theory.”
Symptoms of swine flu are similar to those of seasonal flu and typically include fever, cough, sore throat, headache, fatigue, loss of appetite and muscular aches.
Some people have reported diarrhea and vomiting. In young children, warning signs include fast or troubled breathing, a bluish skin tone and irritability, as well as high fever.
Tests have shown that it can be treated with the anti-viral drugs oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zamanivir (Relenza), which stop the virus from replicating inside the patient’s body. To be most effective, they should be taken less than two days after you first develop the symptoms.
Meanwhile, Salem Al-Murri, a relative of the sponsor of the Indonesian resident who died of swine flu on Thursday, said he would sue the Dammam hospital where the deceased was treated for its failure to detect the H1N1 virus in the patient and for not giving the right treatment. “The maid had gone to the hospital five times in the past 10 days before her death and only during the fifth visit were they able to diagnose the disease,” Al-Murri said.
In another development, the Egyptian Ministry of Health announced Thursday that three members of a Saudi family on holiday in Egypt have been hospitalized and diagnosed with H1N1 virus, Al-Madinah daily reported. “The condition of the three Saudis who are receiving treatment for swine flu is stable,” said Dr. Nasser Al-Sayyed, assistant minister for preventive medicine at the Egyptian Health Ministry.
But the assistant undersecretary at the Saudi Ministry of Health Ziyad Maymash denied receiving any information from the Egyptian authorities about the three Saudis.
