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Hindi Research Article
Epidemiology of Pandemic H1N1 in Oman and Public Health Response, 2009
Salah Thabit Al Awaidy1*, Idris Al Obeidani2, Jeffrey V. Singh3, Salim Al Mahrouqi2, Suleiman Salim Al Busaidy4, Said Al Baqlani4 and Robert D. Allison51Office of HE of Health Affairs, Ministry of Health, Muscat, Oman
2Department of Communicable Disease Surveillance & Control, DGHA, Ministry of Health, Muscat, Oman
3Directorate General of Health Affairs, Muscat, Ministry of Health, Muscat, Oman
4Central Public Health Laboratory, DGHA, Ministry of Health, Muscat, Oman
5Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
- *Corresponding Author:
- Salah Thabit Al Awaidy
Office of HE of Health Affairs, Ministry of Health
Muscat, Oman, P.O.Box: 393, Oman
Tel: 968 99315063
E-mail: salah.awaidy@gmail.com
Received date: February 25, 2015; Accepted date: March 30, 2015; Published date: April 03, 2015
Citation: Al Awaidy ST, Al Obeidani I, Singh JV, Al Mahrouqi S, Al Busaidy SS, et al. (2015) Epidemiology of Pandemic H1N1 in Oman and Public Health Response, 2009. J Community Med Health Educ 5:343. doi: 10.4172/2161-0711.1000343
Copyright: © 2015 Al Awaidy ST, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
A retrospective study of influenza-like illness (ILI) in Oman was completed to describe the epidemiology of pandemic influenza A, subtype H1N1 activity (pH1N1). From June to December 2009, 8,941 specimens were collected nationwide from patients that met the case definition for ILI, of which 6,547 (73%) were tested for pH1N1 by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Out of these, 4,089 (62%) were found positive for pH1N1 and 712 (11%) were positive for seasonal influenza A. The mean age of patients positive for pH1N1 was 24 years (28 days-74 years). Out of the total patients who met the definition of severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) and required hospitalization, 28.3% were positive for pH1N1. The overall case fatality rate was 1.1 deaths/100,000 populations. Two governorates, Muscat and Dhofar, witnessed the greatest intensity of influenza activity. Mitigation, containment, pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical measures were engaged. Based on the experience and lessons learned in Oman, some recommendations were sought in Oman.
