About this item:
220 Views | 229 Downloads
Author Notes:
Correspondence: Ziad A. Memish, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. E‐mail: zmemish@yahoo.com
MA & ZAM developed the research idea, and MA,ZAM & AT executed the study and All authors contributed to the drafting and reviewing of paper.
We thank all staff at the Makkah laboratory where the testing was done.
None of the authors declare any conflict of interest.
Subjects:
Research Funding:
Saudi Ministry of Health.
Keywords:
- Hajj
- Abattoirs
- zoonotic infections
- Rift valley fever
- Brucellosis
- Alkhurma virus
- Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever
- Saudi Arabia
Hajj abattoirs in Makkah: risk of zoonotic infections among occupational workers
Abstract:
At completion of Hajj, the Islamic pilgrimage to Makkah, pilgrims give thanks for the blessing, and acceptance, of Hajj, marking the end of the pilgrimage by sacrificing an animal and distributing the sacrificial meat to the poor. With over two million Muslims making Hajj, each Hajj, more than 1.2 million heads of cattle: sheep, goats and camels are slaughtered. Over 16 000 abattoir workers work around the clock to sacrifice and process the cattle in keeping with Islamic law and public health guidelines. Because of their proximity to high densities of cattle and cattle meat, Makkah's abattoir workers are at risk of zoonosis. This was a longitudinal study aimed at determining the risk of some zoonotic diseases among male permanent abattoir workers during Hajj. Specifically, seroprevalence of antigens for Brucella, Crimean–Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), Alkhurma haemorrhagic fever (AHF) and Rift Valley Fever (RVF) were determined, among the study participants. An enrolment questionnaire, and a follow‐up questionnaire, with provision of 10 mL blood for testing 2 days before intense Hajj animal exposure, up to 20 days after intense animal exposure and between 30 and 42 days after Hajj butchering exposures. While working with livestock, study participants were interrogated on hand hygiene and personal protection. Eighty male permanent abattoir workers participated in the study. Majority, 96.25% (n = 77) declared washing their hands with soap and water, most 98.75% (n = 79) never used eye protection, few occupational workers dressed in personal protective clothing or footwear. All workers tested negative for CCHF and RVF, one was positive for AHF and six for Brucella. The risk of some zoonotic infections like Brucella and AHF is low among permanent occupational workers in the slaughtering house in Makkah during Hajj 2013. No serological evidence for CCHF and RVF viruses, even though workers showed low compliance with use of personnel protective equipment.
Copyright information:
© 2019 The Authors. Veterinary Medicine and Science Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd
This is an Open Access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
