Australian Hajj pilgrims' infection control beliefs and practices: Insight with implications for public health approaches

Exploring barriers to and facilitators of preventive measures against infectious diseases among Australian Hajj pilgrims: cross-sectional studies before and after Hajj

“…These results support the findings of a recent Australian study, which also demonstrated a high level of confidence in advice from non-health professional sources such as family, friends, and travel agents. 8 The present study identified that being aged between 34 and 49 years was the only factor significantly associated with seeking pre-travel health advice. Therefore, enhancing awareness among other groups of Hajj pilgrims, especially elderly adults and those with pre-existing illnesses, about the importance of seeking professional pre-travel advice could be an important strategy to improve the uptake of preventive measures.…”

“…A recent qualitative study of Australian pilgrims found that considerable misconceptions about preventive measures and the risk of respiratory infections prevail among Hajj pilgrims. 8 A French study demonstrated that less than half of pilgrims were aware of social distancing and facemask use as precautions against respiratory infections, 9 but no study has explored the barriers to and facilitators of the uptake of preventive measures. To address these questions, two cross-sectional surveys were conducted among Australian pilgrims, one before and one after the Hajj 2014, to identify what preventive advice and interventions pilgrims received before travel, and what factors influenced their compliance with these measures while they were there.…”

Uptake and effectiveness of facemask against respiratory infections at mass gatherings: a systematic review

“…Excluding three studies, which involved HCWs deployed at Hajj, [23][24][25] all other included studies involved Hajj pilgrims. The origin of the participants varied depending on the study, seven studies included multinational participants, while the other 18 were exclusive to participants from a single country of origin; seven out of 18 (38.9%) were from Saudi Arabia, 20,[23][24][25][26][27][28] According to study types 11 out of 25 were cohort studies, 1,2,22-24,28-33 another 11 cross-sectional studies, 21,[25][26][27][34][35][36][37][38][39][40] two trials (not necessarily RCTs) 18,20 and one case-series conducted as a qualitative study 41 (Table 1).…”

“…Only three studies, all involving Australian pilgrims, evaluated the reasons of compliance (or non-compliance) of using facemask during Hajj. 18,29,41 The most reported reasons for wearing facemask were to avoid transmission of infectious organisms and protection from air pollution. 29 However, discomfort and difficulty in breathing were the most reported reasons for not wearing facemask.…”

To what extent are Arab pilgrims to Makkah aware of the middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus and the precautions against it?

“…Unfortunately, the use of face masks was uncommon among pilgrims, with only half of the pilgrims using the face masks because of many barriers, such as discomfort, breathing difficulty, and the feeling of isolation. [89] About 83% of our participants agreed that the use of face mask was helpful in decreasing the risk of MERS-CoV, but the percentage of use was not quantified. However, the effectiveness of face masks in decreasing the incidence of influenza-like illnesses in mass gatherings has been recently proven.…”