Page 14 - Quarterly surveillance bulletin_April 2019_19 May19

Dengue is currently regarded globally as the most important mos- Bowsher, Muthrah and Muscat wilayats. House to house visit
quito-borne viral disease. Many sporadic imported cases was re- was done by trained teams and vector suvery and control
ported every year in Oman. measures were carried out. Health education on breeding habi-
th
On 11 December 2018, a case of locally acquired dengue was tats of Aedes mosquitoes and their control measures were given
reported from Al Seeb (Muscat). Immediately, a survey was con- simultaneously to the household members.
ducted to actively look for Aedes aegypti (AE) habitat. This is to
investigate the extent of the geographical distribution of this
mosquito in Muscat. The search started in Seeb wilayat and later
extended to include all wilayats of Muscat governorate. The sur-
vey revealed the presence of AE in Muscat costal area and in an
inland depth of 5 km.

Along with insecticides spry and health education the campaign
used community mobilization approaches involving many sec-
tors from ministry of health, Muscat municipality, Shura and mu-
nicipality councils, and other community volunteers teams.

Epidemiological investigation was also done simultaneously for
the dengue fever cases by launching an immediate outbreak re-
sponse. An enhanced surveillance which included renewal of the
case definition of Dengue, streamlining lab testing process, active
case finding from previous case records and training of health
care workers was done.
A total of 59 local cases of Dengue were reported in Muscat gov-
ernorate. The date of onset of the last reported confirmed local
th
cases of Dengue was on 6 March 2019. Most of confirmed cases The outbreak ended when there were no locally acquired cases
reported were from Al Hail south or Al Hail north in Seeb Wilayat. of Dengue for four weeks.
More clustering was observed in Al Hail North.

Aedes aegypti eradication campaign was launched by HE the Min-
ister of Health on 8 January 2019. The campaign covered Seeb, 14

Disease Surveillance Bulletin (Jan-Mar 2019, Issue No. 1) Directorate General for Disease Surveillance & Control