Study: Vulnerable due to swine flu risk should avoid hajj

Nov 14, 2009, 12:12 GMT

Cairo - People at risk of coming down with severe illness due to H1N1 influenza should postpone their participation in the annual Muslim pilgrimage, or hajj, to Mecca, according to a study released Saturday.

The findings and recommendations of the study led by Ziad Memish of the Saudi Arabian health ministry were in the British medical journal The Lancet.

'Mass gatherings of people challenge public health vigilance and knowledge because they increase the epidemiological potential for the spread of disease to a maximum,' according to the study.

Official figures show that nine pilgrims have so far this year been diagnosed with the A (H1N1) influenza, commonly known as swine flu.

The peak 2009 hajj season will conclude towards the end of the month, with some 2.5 million Muslims expected to travel to Mecca during what is considered the first hajj season affected by a flu pandemic since air travel became the main means of reaching Mecca.

Crowd densities can increase to seven individuals per square meter during the hajj, the study found.

The study recommends continued airport screenings and isolation of the ill as a means of curbing the spread of the virus. However, the medical experts cautioned that isolation should be used only as needed, since 'once widely publicized, isolation will be a powerful deterrent to the self-reporting of illness.'

According to the research, individuals doing hajj 'vary in age, but tend to be older and poorer than participants in other mass gatherings' and the average pilgrim has 'has a disproportionate number of pre-existing health problems' while lacking access to health care.

Concern was also expressed for a large-scale spread of disease once pilgrims left Saudi Arabia and returned to their home countries, as the virus has an incubation period of several days.

The study was based on Saudi-led consultations in June with medical professionals, which included experts from the Middle East, China, Europe and the United States.

Religious leaders in Saudi Arabia have issued a fatwa, or religious decree, banning those feeling ill with flu-like symptoms from going on hajj this year.

Several Gulf countries, including the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia itself, have begun vaccinating pilgrims ahead of their voyage to Mecca.