Tropical Medicine and International Health
doi:10.1111/tmi.12413
volume 20 no 2 pp e11 february 2015
Letter to the Editors Hajj pilgrimage surveillance in pilgrims from African countries Dear Sirs, The recent editorial ‘The Hajj pilgrimage surveillance in pilgrims from African countries’ (Zumla et al. 2014) stresses the importance of surveillance in pilgrims from African countries and mentions several diseases including to Middle East Respiratory syndrome and influenza. Now, additional surveillance on Ebola virus infection should be included (Memish & Al-Tawfiq 2014). No doubt many travellers from Africa carry diseases to Saudi Arabia. The biosecurity system for control of cross-border disease transmission is the big challenge (Adalja & Henderson 2014). However, the effectiveness of the ‘Quarantine Station’ remains questionable. Despite its best attempts, disease surveillance is limited – the asymptomatic case that can pass through undetected being a good example. Finally, besides the usually mentioned need to screen Hajj pilgrims travelling to Saudi Arabia for Hajj, there is a need to screen returning pilgrims leaving Saudi Arabia who may have become infected there.
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Sim Sai Tin1 and Viroj Wiwanitkit2 1
Medical Center, Shantou, China Hainan Medical University, Haikou, China E-mail: [email protected]
2
References Adalja AA & Henderson DA (2014) Optimization of interventions in Ebola: differential contagion. Biosecurity and Bioterrorism. [Epub ahead of print]. Memish ZA & Al-Tawfiq JA (2014) The Hajj in The Time of an Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease 12, 415–417. Zumla A, Mwaba P, Bates M, Al-Tawfiq JA, Maeurer M & Memish ZA (2014) The Hajj pilgrimage and surveillance for Middle East Respiratory syndrome coronavirus in pilgrims from African countries. Tropical Medicine & International Health 19, 838–840.
E11
doi:10.1111/tmi.12413
volume 20 no 2 pp e11 february 2015
Letter to the Editors Hajj pilgrimage surveillance in pilgrims from African countries Dear Sirs, The recent editorial ‘The Hajj pilgrimage surveillance in pilgrims from African countries’ (Zumla et al. 2014) stresses the importance of surveillance in pilgrims from African countries and mentions several diseases including to Middle East Respiratory syndrome and influenza. Now, additional surveillance on Ebola virus infection should be included (Memish & Al-Tawfiq 2014). No doubt many travellers from Africa carry diseases to Saudi Arabia. The biosecurity system for control of cross-border disease transmission is the big challenge (Adalja & Henderson 2014). However, the effectiveness of the ‘Quarantine Station’ remains questionable. Despite its best attempts, disease surveillance is limited – the asymptomatic case that can pass through undetected being a good example. Finally, besides the usually mentioned need to screen Hajj pilgrims travelling to Saudi Arabia for Hajj, there is a need to screen returning pilgrims leaving Saudi Arabia who may have become infected there.
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Sim Sai Tin1 and Viroj Wiwanitkit2 1
Medical Center, Shantou, China Hainan Medical University, Haikou, China E-mail: [email protected]
2
References Adalja AA & Henderson DA (2014) Optimization of interventions in Ebola: differential contagion. Biosecurity and Bioterrorism. [Epub ahead of print]. Memish ZA & Al-Tawfiq JA (2014) The Hajj in The Time of an Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease 12, 415–417. Zumla A, Mwaba P, Bates M, Al-Tawfiq JA, Maeurer M & Memish ZA (2014) The Hajj pilgrimage and surveillance for Middle East Respiratory syndrome coronavirus in pilgrims from African countries. Tropical Medicine & International Health 19, 838–840.
E11
