- Title: [SW News] (BBC) Saudi Arabia's mystery virus traced
to ...
- Posted by/on:[AAJ][Sunday, 17 September, 2000]
You are in: World: Middle East -
Saudi Arabia's mystery virus
traced to
.
The disease
is usually spread by mosquitoes. An outbreak of an illness which has killed at
least 16
people in the Saudi province of Jizan has been identified as Rift Valley Fever
(RVF).
According
to the World Health Organisation (WHO) this is the first report of the disease
outside
Africa. The virus usually affects animals, but can be transmitted to humans via
mosquitoes, or
through
coming into contact with the blood of contaminated animals.
A spokesman
for the Saudi health authorities said the disease had been transmitted by
sheep and a
large number of animals had died recently in Jizan. Bleeding. He said 16 of
the 36
people
infected had now died, but no new cases had been reported in the last 48
hours.
The
authorities in Jizan province imposed emergency measures after cases of the
disease
were detected. The disease can cause bleeding from the mouth, ears and nose,
eye lesions
and
encephalitis but symptoms more usually resemble those of influenza. Human
mortality rates
in
outbreaks are usually low, but hundreds died in Kenya and Somalia after the
diseasespread widely
during
floods. Saudi Arabia regularly imposes bans on the import of livestock
from countries
suffering
outbreaks of Rift Valley Fever in order to prevent the spread of the disease.
Jizan
province lies around 300km from the coast of Africa across the Red Sea.
The town of Jizan is
known
for its heat and humidity at this time of year which, combined with recent seasonal
heavy
rains,
makes it an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes.
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