Infectious and tropical diseases in Oman: A review

Oman is generally hot and dry, but the Salalah region in southern Dhofar pr ovince is relatively cool and rainy during the summer monsoon, and has a di stinctive pattern of infection. Important, notifiable infections in Oman in clude tuberculosis, brucellosis (endemic in Dhofar), acute gastroenteritis, and viral hepatitis: 4.9% of the adults are seropositive for hepatitis B s urface 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 c ases. Cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis (caused by Leishmania tropica an d L. infantum, respectively) and Bancroftian filariasis occur sporadically. Intestinal parasitism ranges from 17% to 42% in different populations. A s olitary focus of schistosomiasis mansoni in Dhofar has been eradicated. The re are major programs for the elimination of tuberculosis, leprosy, and mal aria, and to control brucellosis, leishmaniasis, sexually transmitted disea ses, trachoma, acute respiratory infection in children, and diarrheal disea ses. The Expanded Program on Immunization was introduced in 1981: diphtheri a, neonatal tetanus, and probably poliomyelitis have been eliminated.