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Control of Rift Valley Fever in Africa and the Middle East

This disease gains its name from the Rift Valley in Africa where the disease was first reported.  Transmitted by mosquitoes and passed to animals and humans through frequent blood meals by the female mosquito, this zoonotic disease can have a serious debilitating effect on humans and livestock and, if untreated, can be fatal.  

In 2000 the Ministries of Health in the Kindom of Saudi Arabia and in Yemen began receiving reports of unexplained haemorrhagic fever and deaths in animals and humans in the western Saudi-Yemen border region.  These cases were subsequently confirmed to be Rift Valley Fever, the first such cases on the Arabian peninsula (previous outbreaks had been confined to Africa).  

During 2000 over 500 people with suspected severe Rift Valley Fever were reported from primary health care centres and hospitals and there were many fatalities.  Nearly all reported having mosquito bites.  Studies found large numbers of Culex tritaeniorrhynchus  and Aedes caspius (and possibly other Aedes species) in the flood irrigated farming areas at the foot of the mountains and foothills of Al Ardah district in Jizan, where most human cases were reported.  

Large scale control operations were carried out in Saudi Arabia from April 2000 onwards. These involved the spraying of mosquito populations in wet marsh lands in the south of the country, followed by routine aerial sprays over urban areas.   Some 14 fixed wing aircraft and helicopters were mobilised to undertake a large programme of vector control to reduce disease incidence, covering over 1 million hectares.  

Micronair atomiser technology was chosen for this major control operation. Following a sustained campaign between September and December 2000 and on into 2001 the numer of reported cases has dropped dramatically.

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