INFECTIOUS AND TROPICAL DISEASES IN OMAN: A REVIEW

Oman is generally hot and dry, but the Salalah region in southern Dhofar province is relatively cool and rainy during the summer monsoon, and has a distinctive pattern of infection. Important, notifiable infections in Oman include tuberculosis, brucellosis (endemic in Dhofar), acute gastroenteritis, and viral hepatitis: 4.9% of the adults are seropositive for hepatitis B surface antigen and approximately 1.2% for hepatitis C virus. Infection with human immunodeficiency virus is uncommon, and leprosy, rabies, and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever are rare. Between 1990 and 1998, the incidence of malaria, ( .70% due to Plasmodium falciparum ) decreased from 32,700 to 882 cases. Cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis (caused by Leishmania tropica and L. infantum, respectively) and Bancroftian filariasis occur sporadically. Intestinal parasitism ranges from 17% to 42% in different populations. A solitary focus of schistosomiasis mansoni in Dhofar has been eradicated. There are major programs for the elimination of tuberculosis, leprosy, and malaria, and to control brucellosis, leishmaniasis, sexually transmitted diseases, trachoma, acute respiratory infection in children, and diarrheal diseases. The Expanded Program on Immunization was introduced in 1981: diphtheria, neonatal tetanus, and probably poliomyelitis have been eliminated. Much has been written about infectious and tropical dis- eases in Oman during the past 3 decades. This data has been published in regional journals, including the Medical News- letter of Oman (1982-1994), its successor, the Oman Medi- cal Journal (1994 to the present), other medical journals, and in Ministry of Health publications, especially the quar- terly Community Health and Disease Surveillance Newslet- ter. (The Oman Medical Journal is a bi-monthly, peer-re- viewed journal.) In addition, Oman has been mentioned in reviews of communicable diseases in the Middle East. 1-3