Senegal's Grand Magal of Touba: Syndromic Surveillance during the 2016 Mass Gathering.

Senegal's Grand Magal of Touba: Syndromic Surveillance during the 2016 Mass Gathering. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2019 Dec 23;: Authors: Sokhna C, Goumballa N, Hoang VT, Mboup BM, Dieng M, Sylla AB, Diallo A, Raoult D, Parola P, Gautret P Abstract The Grand Magal of Touba (GMT) is an annual 1-day Muslim religious event that takes place in Touba in Senegal. The city of Touba swells from 800,000 to four million people during the GMT. All patients who attended one of the 154 dedicated medical care public healthcare structures of the medical region of Diourbel during the GMT were included in a cross-sectional survey from November 16 to November 21, 2016. Demographic, morbidity, and mortality data were collected on a daily basis using a standardized article form that allows data to be recorded in a free-text format. Data were obtained from a total of 20,850 healthcare encounters, and 30.9% patients were aged ≤ 15 years. The most frequent conditions were gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases. Most frequent gastrointestinal symptoms were abdominal and gastric pain, nausea and vomiting, and diarrhea, suggesting that most patients suffered gastroenteritis. The predominance of cough, rhinitis, influenza-like illness, and sore throat among patients with respiratory symptoms suggests that most patients suffered from upper respiratory tract infections. Other frequent symptoms were headaches and pain in various organs. Three percentage of patients w...
Source: The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene - Category: Tropical Medicine Authors: Tags: Am J Trop Med Hyg Source Type: research