Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus. What travel health advice should be given to Hajj pilgrims?

Gautret, Philippe

doi:10.1016/j.tmaid.2013.08.009

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Thus, it is hoped that this review will help relevant authorities in providing recommendations for prevention of respiratory infectious diseases during the Hajj, particularly for prevention of MERS-CoV transmission [56].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-pharmaceutical interventions for the prevention of respiratory tract infections during Hajj pilgrimage

Benkouiten

Brouqui

Gautret

2014

Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease

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Overcrowding during the yearly Hajj mass gatherings is associated with increased risk of spreading infectious diseases, particularly respiratory diseases. Non-pharmaceutical interventions (e.g., hand hygiene, wearing face masks, social distancing) are known to reduce the spread of respiratory viruses from person to person and are therefore recommended to pilgrims by public health agencies. The implementation of effective public health policies and recommendations involves evaluating the adherence to and effectiveness of these measures in the specific context of the Hajj. This review summarizes the evidence related to the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions in preventing the spread of respiratory infectious diseases during the Hajj. Overall, although hand hygiene compliance is high among pilgrims, face mask use and social distancing remain difficult challenges. Data about the effectiveness of these measures at the Hajj are limited, and results are contradictory, highlighting the need for future large-scale studies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-pharmaceutical interventions for the prevention of respiratory tract infections during Hajj pilgrimage

Benkouiten

Brouqui

Gautret

2014

Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease

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“…Raw camel milk consumption in the Middle East may be associated with several zoonotic infections; therefore it is advisable for Hajj pilgrims to avoid unpasteurized milk. It is also recommended to avoid close contact with live farm or wild animals in particular camels [36]. Travelers to the Middle East who develop respiratory symptoms either during travel or within 14 days after their return should seek medical attention.…”

Section: Prevention Of Mers-cov In Travelersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV): Prevention in travelers

Pavli¹,

Tsiodras

Maltezou³

2014

Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease

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Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), a novel coronavirus that causes a severe lower respiratory tract infection in humans, emerged in the Middle East in 2012. Since then, MERS-CoV has caused an ongoing epidemic in the Arabian Peninsula with sporadic cases imported in Europe, North Africa, Southeast Asia, and the United States of America. As of 28th May 2014, 636 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV have been reported to World Health Organization including 14 cases imported by travelers. The epicenter of the current MERS-CoV epidemic is located in Saudi Arabia, where millions of pilgrims travel for two mass gatherings annually. In this review we summarize MERS-CoV cases in relation to travel with focus on the epidemiology and prevention in travelers. It is important to increase awareness of travelers about the risks and appropriate preventive measures and for health professionals to be on alert if a patient with severe respiratory symptoms reports a recent history of travel to the region affected with MERS-CoV. Measures should be taken by local health authorities of the affected countries in order to improve hospital hygiene. Finally, it is crucial to investigate the reasons for travelers' poor compliance with rules and recommendations issued by Saudi officials and to take appropriate measures in order to improve them.

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“…In 2013, Gautret [10] studied the effect of travel history on the outbreak of MERS-CoV infections in the world. There can be human-to-human transmission of MERS-CoV infection, so the risk of infection increases to Hajj pilgrims visiting the Middle East countries.…”

Section: Mers-covmentioning

confidence: 99%

An intelligent system for predicting and preventing MERS-CoV infection outbreak

2015

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MERS-CoV is an airborne disease which spreads easily and has high death rate. To predict and prevent MERS-CoV, real-time analysis of user's health data and his/her geographic location are fundamental. Development of healthcare systems using cloud computing is emerging as an effective solution having benefits of better quality of service, reduced cost, scalability, and flexibility. In this paper, an effective cloud computing system is proposed which predicts MERS-CoV-infected patients using Bayesian belief network and provides geographic-based risk assessment to control its outbreak. The proposed system is tested on synthetic data generated for 0.2 million users. System provided high accuracy for classification and appropriate geographicbased risk assessment. The key point of this paper is the use of geographic positioning system to represent each MERS-CoV users on Google maps so that possibly infected users can be quarantined as early as possible. It will help uninfected citizens to avoid regional exposure and the government agencies to manage the problem more effectively.

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Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus. What travel health advice should be given to Hajj pilgrims?

Cited by 10 publications

References 21 publications

Non-pharmaceutical interventions for the prevention of respiratory tract infections during Hajj pilgrimage

Non-pharmaceutical interventions for the prevention of respiratory tract infections during Hajj pilgrimage

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV): Prevention in travelers

An intelligent system for predicting and preventing MERS-CoV infection outbreak

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