Health Min.: 300 new Sudanese arrivals to be medically examined

CAIOR – 10 October 2017: The 300 new Sudanese arrivals who recently crossed the border through the Red Sea governorate will be submitted to medical examinations to check for dengue fever, Health Minister Ahmed Emad Eddin Radi said on Tuesday.

On the sidelines of an inspection tour of El Quseir Central Hospital in the Red Sea, Emad Eddin Radi assured that dengue fever is not a disease that usually circulates in Egypt or other north African countries.

Meanwhile, the minister pointed out that dengue fever is a virus and only 0.5 percent of Red Sea inhabitants are infected with it. He noted that there are only 212 cases infected with the fever in the hospital; 185 of which recovered.

Emad Eddin Radi clarified that medical measures have already been taken. The initial results of the examinations revealed that waste water and mosquitoes are the main causes that led the virus to circulate in the governorate.

The minister held a meeting early Tuesday with leaders at the health directorate in Hurghada to review needed measures to combat dengue fever.

Several cases of dengue fever emerged in 2015 in Upper Egypt's Assiut governorate, but all cases were treated without reporting any deaths, according to the ministry’s spokesperson Khaled Megahed.

The disease is present in more than 100 countries all over the world and is not likely to cause death, the spokesman added.