Screening for Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus among febrile Indonesian Hajj pilgrims: A study on 28,197 returning pilgrims

M. Amin, A. Bakhtiar, M. Subarjo, E. B. Aksono, P. Widiyanti, K. Shimizu, Y. Mori

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

There were 211,000 Indonesian Hajj pilgrims going to Mecca through 11 main airports in 2015 who were at risk of contracting the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). We aimed to find out whether there was any occurrence of MERS-CoV by performing screening on 28,197 returning pilgrims. Those with a body temperature of > 38 °C and respiratory symptoms were sent to the airport clinic to have an oropharyngeal swab and a bacterial culture. Fifteen pilgrims had fever (> 38 °C) accompanied by respiratory symptoms; of these, 12 patients were diagnosed with upper and lower respiratory tract infections and three patients with pneumonia. However, none of them were found to be infected with MERS-CoV. The bacterial cultures showed evidence of normal flora growth.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)236-239
Number of pages4
JournalJournal of Infection Prevention
Volume19
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2018

Keywords

  • Indonesia
  • MERS-CoV
  • pilgrims
  • screening

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