Mecca, Saudi Arabia - A teenager and three elderly people in Saudi Arabia for the Hajj pilgrimage have died of H1N1 flu virus, said the Saudi Ministry of Health.
Victims of the virus was a 17-year-old Nigerian woman and a Sudanese man, an Indian man and a Moroccan woman, each was 75 years old.
"These cases were discovered too late," said Dr. Khaled Al-Marghalani, ministry spokesman. "Some were old, and the others had pre-existing chronic conditions."
Al-Marghalani said the Sudanese man first went to a doctor who treated him, but not H1N1.
"So when the doctor sent him to the hospital, and he was treated for H1N1, it was too late," he said.
The annual pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, required of Muslims at least once in their lives, and millions of people throughout the world makes trek to participate. This year, the Hajj begins Wednesday, and many pilgrims have been arriving for days and weeks before the event, which coincides with the flu season.
When the Arab Health met in Cairo, Egypt, a few months back, it was more groups may also be excluded from this year's event because of flu. They were children under 12 years old, adults over 65 years, pregnant women and people with chronic diseases.
The Saudis do not exclude anyone from coming and left the responsibility for the pilgrims' countries of origin. In practice, officials issued guidelines only for people in danger.
Two days ago, Saudi Arabia Minister of Health, met Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah representatives to discuss measures to detect disease.
"It would be nice to have more time to prepare [the possibility of H1N1 spreading in Saudi Arabia] in front of Hajj, but I am very satisfied with all the measures and have great confidence," he said before the meeting.
Al-Marghalani said "safe gun" for this kind of H1N1 cases resulted in death is Tamiflu, the drug used to fight influenza.
"If we lose Tamiflu, we will lose the war. But Tamiflu is only effective in the first 48 hours after symptoms," he says.
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