BMJ  2006;333:1220 (9 December), doi:10.1136/bmj.39051.734329.3A

Letters

Influenza vaccine uptake among British Muslims attending Hajj, 2005 and 2006

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Every year 1% of British Muslims travel to Saudi Arabia on the Hajj pilgrimage. High rates of influenza have been reported among pilgrims,1 2 and the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health recommends that all pilgrims should receive influenza vaccination before travelling. We determined the uptake of influenza vaccination among British Hajj pilgrims who attended the British Hajj Delegation Clinic in Mecca and mobile clinics set up by us in Mina in 2005 and 2006.

In 2005, 196 pilgrims were recruited and in 2006, 146 (age range 2 to 83; 313 men); 104 were from London. Ninety two pilgrims (27%) were categorised as being at risk of influenza, one fifth (19) of them solely because of being 65 or over and the rest because of having chronic diseases regardless of age.

A total of 108 pilgrims (32%) were vaccinated, all but two by their general practitioner. Vaccine coverage among pilgrims at risk . . . [Full text of this article]

Shuja Shafi, Harunor Rashid, Kamal Ali, Haitham El Bashir, Elizabeth Haworth, Ziad A Memish, Robert Booy

1 Department of Microbiology and HPA Collaborating Laboratory, Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow, Middlesex HA1 3UJ

shuja.shafi@nwlh.nhs.uk


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Hajj and the risk of influenza
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BMJ 2006 333: 1182-1183. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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Rapid Responses:

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