 |
|
Saudi
fears intensify with the approach of Hajj season.
|
By
Fawaz Mohammad, IOL Correspondent
RIYADH,
November 14, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Saudi Arabia is planning to
host an international conference on November 21-22 to discuss ways of
preventing an outbreak of the bird flu during the Muslim hajj.
"The
conference will discuss means of vaccination against the approaching
danger of the avian flu," said Zayad bin Ahmed Memish, director
of the Gulf Center for anti-bodies Saturday, November 12.
The
two-day conference will bring together more than 300 health experts
and specialists from around the globe in addition to Saudi officials
to discuss means of protection against the deadly virus.
"The
conference will also probe ways to gain more information about the
nature of the virus as well as means of diagnosis and
protection," added Memish, who is also head of the conference's
organizing committee.
Executive
director of the National Guards' health affairs department Dr.
Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz highlighted importance of the conference in
fighting the avian flu.
"It
comes at a time world countries are racing time to gain more
information about the deadly virus to prevent its outbreak."
Fears
of bird Flu coming to the Arab world were highlighted when the
Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health said 3,673 wild
waterfowl had died in Iran.
Saudi
fears intensify with the approach of Hajj season, where millions of
Muslims from the four corners of the globe head for the Kingdom for
the annual spiritual journey.
Official
figures put the total number of pilgrims performing last year's Hajj
at 1,892,710, with 1,419,706 from abroad and 473,004 Saudis and other
Muslim residents of the kingdom.
Every
able-bodied adult Muslim who can financially afford the trip must
perform hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, once in their
lifetime.
Hajj
consists of several ceremonies, meant to symbolize the essential
concepts of the Islamic faith, and to commemorate the trials of
Prophet Abraham and his family.
Fears
 |
|
Fears
of a bird flu outbreak have been high in Saudi Arabia since
reports that chickens perished in a farm in the Kingdom.
|
Fears
of a bird flu outbreak have been high in the oil-rich kingdom since
reports on November 6, that chickens perished in a farm in
southeastern Saudi Arabia.
The
owner of the farm in Surat Obaida, south of Khamis Mushayt in the Asir
region said he had told the Saudi authorities that the poultry
“started to cough, faint and then die” within three days.
But
Saudi officials denied an outbreak of the avian virus in the region,
saying tests on the perished birds showed no sign of the flu.
Saudi
Arabia has stepped up measures to prevent any outbreak of virus in the
country.
On
Saturday, Saudi Arabia said that it was banning all bird imports from
neighboring countries amid heightened regional concerns about bird
flu, according to Agence France Presse (AFP).
"A
royal decree was sent to the customs and all entry points forbidding
the entry of all bird species coming from countries bordering the
kingdom," the official SPA agency said.
The
decision comes a day after Kuwait announced a bird stricken with avian
flu in the country carried the deadly H5N1 strain, in the first case
of its kind in the Gulf region.
Another
bird was found to have the milder H5N2 strain.
On
October 25, the kingdom banned live bird imports from Asian countries,
Romania and Turkey where the deadly strain of H5N1 avian flu has been
detected.
Scientists
fear if the bird flu virus, which originated in Asia, were to pass on
any large scale from birds to humans it could mutate into a variety
that could spread between humans. In a virulent form, they say, this
could kill millions worldwide.
Anti-bird
Flu Drug
In
a related development, China said Sunday it has developed what it
calls the equivalent of the anti-bird flu drug Tamiflu in preparation
for a feared pandemic if the virus begins spreading among humans.
Zhong
Nanshan, director of the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases,
was quoted in the Information Times newspaper as saying the
drug would be effective in treating the virus, Reuters said.
The
Information Times report did
not say when the drug might be available or say how it compared with
the antiviral Tamiflu, made by Swiss drug giant Roche Holding AG.
In
the absence of a vaccine for bird flu, the World Health Organization
recommends that governments stockpile Tamiflu, which does not cure the
disease but can reduce its severity and might slow the spread of a
pandemic.
China
has reported a total of eight outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 strain of
bird flu in poultry since the start of October.
The
latest outbreak occurred in Jingshan county in Hubei province. Local
authorities have culled more than 31,000 poultry within a radius of 3
km (2 miles).
The
H5N1 strain first emerged in Hong Kong in 1997, when it caused the
death or destruction of 1.5 million birds. Eighteen people fell ill,
of whom six died.
It
re-emerged in 2003 in South Korea and has spread to China, Vietnam,
Thailand, Laos and Indonesia. H5N1 has infected 117 people in four
countries and killed 60, according to the WHO.
