Acute respiratory viral infections among Tamattu' Hajj pilgrims in Iran

ABSTRACT: Respiratory infections are among some common health difficulties which may occur in journeys. Tamattu' Hajj, an annual congregation of more than 2 million (including 100000 Iranian) pilgrims from all over the world, embodies circumstances, e. g. close contact, shared sleeping accommodations and the dense air pollution, which potentially facilitate airborne respiratory disease transmission. With pilgrims' returning home, respiratory infections may be spread to different countries, leading to considerable expenditures imposed mainly on National Health Systems. Thus, this study was conducted to investigate acute respiratory viral infections among Hajj pilgrims. In this descriptive-analytical study, serum samples were taken from 338 Iranian pilgrims in order to be investigated, through enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), for antibodies to given viruses. 84 % of studied pilgrims, during their journey, presented with symptoms of infectious diseases, among which Adenoviruses (23.7%) occurred more prevalently compared to the other two viruses of concern, i. e., Influenza (3.6%) and RSV (7.4%). Several factors are involved in rate and type of acute respiratory infections among Hajj pilgrims. Despite high rate of infection with Influenza and Adenoviruses, since massive gatherings may help all pathogenic respiratory agents cause pandemics, other infectious agents should be seriously addressed as well