The annual pilgrimage, the hajj, to Mecca is the largest gathering of the planet, bringing 2.5 million people from 160 countries. Such gathering is welcoming for an outbreak since the pilgrims are compacted in the small city of Saudi Arabia for five days. Their holy city could turn into a "petri dish for viral mutations," thus spreading a new pandemic around the world. Saudi authorities have already asked pregnant women, elderly, and diseased not to attend the hajj.
Dr. Ziad A. Memish, Islam's assistant deputy minister for preventive medicine, stated that they will allow all those who enter the country but are recommending the rest of the countries whom should be allowed.
Health authorities recommended pilgrims to frequently wash their hands, bring their own surgical masks and hand sanitizers. In addition, Saudi government has stocked Tamiflu, staffed 76 health facilities, expanded intensive-care units, and will not charge pilgrims for expenses on health problems they may have during the visit.
Though it may be impossible to prevent the flu from spreading among pilgrims, authorities are doing what they can to lessen the probability by keeping the vulnerable from attending the hajj.
(Reliability: 9)
Comment: Previous outbreaks include the meningitis in Mecca in 1987. Muslim pilgrims spread polio from northern Nigeria across Africa to Saudi Arabia and from there to Yemen and Indonesia in 2004. Catholics gathered in July 2008 from all over the world for World Youth Day, broke an Tamiflu
resistant strain of seasonal flu outbreak to the Northern Hemisphere and the United States last winter.
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