Saudi Arabia’s Haj Ministry has announced it has taken measures to protect pilgrims and prevent any bird flu outbreak during the Haj season which begins in January, reports the Saudi Arab News.
“We have informed all foreign governments about health conditions to be followed by their pilgrims,” said Dr. Sahl A-Sabban of the Haj Ministry on Monday, adding that the pilgrims would not be allowed to bring foodstuffs into the kingdom.
The announcement came following fears that the more than two million pilgrims who gather in Mecca for the annual Haj would risk creating the conditions in which a pandemic strain of the bird flu could emerge.
The deadly H5N1 virus cannot pass among people the way ordinary seasonal flu does, but experts fear it could mutate into a form which can be transmitted from person to person. Experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) say Haj should be called off if human-to-human contamination is discovered.
“It’s the worst-case scenario that we can have,” said Didier Pittet, director of the Infection Control Programme at the University of Geneva Hospitals, according to Reuters.
“What Saudi authorities deployed in terms of efforts and prevention measures is remarkable,” said Pittet, who leads a campaign by the WHO to prevent infection among patients. “But what will be terrible is if by bad luck, bird flu and common flu viruses come in contact. If Saudi authorities discover a sporadic human case of bird flu in Mecca, then extreme and immediate action will be needed. If a second and similar case is spotted in the same area, then you have a clustering of cases, you suspect there are other forms of transmission.”
Tuesday is the second and final day of the International Bird Flu Conference, which is being hosted in Mecca. More than 300 doctors and specialists are attending the conference, which is held in association with the ministries of health, agriculture and Haj