Infectious diseases threats at the Arba'een – a neglected but one of the largest annually recurring mass gathering religious events

• Shuja Shafi,
• Esam Azhar,
• Seif Al-Abri,
• Avinash Sharma,
• Nizar Merali,
• Jaffar A Al-Tawfiq,
• Sherif A El-Kafrawy,
• Alimuddin Zumla,
• Shui Shan Lee

Affiliations

Shuja Shafi

Mass Gatherings and Global Health Network, London, United Kingdom; Correspondence: Dr Shuja Shafi.

Esam Azhar

Special Infectious Agents Unit BSL-3, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia; Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia

Seif Al-Abri

International Society for Infectious Diseases; Directorate General for Disease Surveillance and Control, Ministry of Health, P.O. Box 393, 100, Muscat, Oman

Avinash Sharma

DBT-National Centre for Cell Science, Pune, India

Nizar Merali

General Practice Direct, Harrow HA2 0RQ, London, United Kingdom

Jaffar A Al-Tawfiq

International Society for Infectious Diseases; Infectious Disease Unit, Specialty Internal Medicine, Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia; Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, USA; Infectious Disease Division, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

Sherif A El-Kafrawy

Special Infectious Agents Unit BSL-3, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia; Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia

Alimuddin Zumla

Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, United Kingdom; NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, UCL Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom

Shui Shan Lee

International Society for Infectious Diseases; Stanley Ho Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China