Abstract
Hajj, annually hosted by Saudi Arabia, is considered a religious major mass gathering event that pose
significant public health challenges like the transmission of infectious diseases and illnesses related to
climate change. Heat stress is a key problem that faced by about two and half millions pilgrims during
Hajj. It has historically experienced high morbidity and mortality due to heat illnesses. The highest
incidence of mortalities attributed to heat illnesses happened in 1409 Hijri and 1412 Hijri Hajj as the
recorded maximum temperatures reached 48.7°C and 47.6°C respectively. Holy Makkah area had the
highest recoded incidence of these mortalities, since pilgrims stay much longer periods in Makkah
compared to Arafat and Mina. This work aimed to review the prevalence of heat illness in general and
heat stroke in specific among the pilgrimage during Hajj and summarize the reasons that make
pilgrimage more liable to develop heat stroke. This review also describes, in brief, the process of
acclimatization to heat stress and the impact of heat stress on the body besides summarizing the
common clinical presentation of heat stroke.
Suhaila Qari. (2019) The Hajj: Hazards of Heat Exposure and Prevalence of Heat Illnesses among Pilgrims, Journal of Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Volume-18, Issue-4.
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