As the global Muslim population continues to expand, conditions during the Hajj, the holy pilgrimage to Mecca that every Muslim must make at least once in their life are growing more crowded raising the likelihood that a serious infectious disease could easily spread. This tendency was on full display last week as serious health scares at airports in New York and Philadelphia were traced back to pilgrims who were returning from the Hajj.
Passengers who were traveling from Dubai to New York City (a group that amusingly included rapper Vanilla Ice) were quarantined for hours at JFK airport on Wednesday amid reports that more than 100 people aboard the plane reported feeling ill. In the end, 11 people were sent to an area hospital for testing. Of those, two tested positive for a particularly infectious type of influenza A virus, and one of the two was gravely ill with pneumonia. A third person tested positive for a cold virus, according to Channel News Asia.
On Thursday, two flights arriving in Philadelphia from Europe were screened by medical teams after 12 passengers reported flu-like symptoms. One of them had visited Mecca for the Hajj.
2 comments:
Only one went to Mecca and we have an entire fearmongering article. Ever been to Disney, parents drag their sick kids everywhere because they aren't cancelling a long planned vacation. Norovirus on cruise ships? Nobody stays home sick anymore.
The deadly disease is them! Muslims are death for a happy civilized society.
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