Reported Bacterial Infectious Diseases in Saudi Arabia: Overview and Recent Advances

Epidemiological surveillance is a critical tool to monitor the population's health and facilitate the prevention and control of infectious disease outbreaks. Bacterial infections are well known as one of the leading causes of global infection-related morbidity and mortality. Our study summarizes the number of bacterial infectious diseases in Saudi Arabia, along with an overview and recent advances in treatment or prevention modalities against these reported bacterial infections. This study only covers the reported bacterial infectious diseases in the Saudi Monthly Epidemiology Reports between 2018 and 2021. The results revealed that brucellosis, tuberculosis and salmonellosis were the most frequently reported bacterial infectious diseases in Saudi Arabia. Generally, males were more affected by bacterial infections than females. There was a variation in the distribution of bacterial infectious diseases between Saudi and non-Saudi citizens. Brucellosis and Salmonellosis infections were more common among Saudi citizens, while Tuberculosis was more common in non-Saudis. Interestingly, there was a decline in the incidence rates of numerous bacterial infectious diseases during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and COVID-19 restrictions. However, this decline in the incidence rates might be a result of underreporting during the national lockdown. Some bacterial infectious diseases were rarely reported in Saudi Arabia, including Syphilis, Diphtheria, and Guillain-Barré syndrome.