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Virus Hangs Over Islamic Pilgrimage To Mecca
LATimes ^ | October 09, 2013 | Eryn Brown

Posted on 10/09/2013 9:22:47 PM PDT by Steelfish

Virus Hangs Over Islamic Pilgrimage To Mecca

Health officials in the U.S. will be on the alert for anyone returning from the Middle East with symptoms of MERS, a mysterious and potentially deadly illness.

Laila Shifa, left, helps her daughter, Homaira Hamid, center, and husband Jahan pack in their Northridge apartment for their hajj pilgrimage. The couple are bringing face masks to help guard against the MERS virus, which has been detected in the Middle East.

By Eryn Brown October 9 After they got married last year, Homaira and Jahan Hamid decided they would embark on the hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia "as soon as possible," before parental duties began to crowd out their religious obligations.

When the Northridge couple discovered that a mysterious and sometimes deadly virus had emerged in the desert kingdom, killing more than 40% of the people it was known to have infected, they briefly reconsidered.

The hajj — which every able Muslim must attend at least once in their lives — annually draws to Mecca as many as 3 million people, all gathered together. Last Friday, the Hamids boarded a long-planned flight to the region, stowing surgical face masks and vitamins along with their clothing and other essentials.

"We're just kind of hoping for the best," Homaira Hamid said.

That's a sentiment shared by pilgrims and public health officials alike, who say they will stay vigilant over the next month or so as people return home from the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

Severe coughs or flu-like symptoms could be a sign of infection with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus, or MERS-CoV,...

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: coronavirus; hajj; hangs; islam; islamic; mecca; mers; merscov; middleeast; muslim; muslims; pilgrimage; saudiarabia; virus

1 posted on 10/09/2013 9:22:47 PM PDT by Steelfish
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To: Steelfish

Islam is a virus.


2 posted on 10/09/2013 9:29:14 PM PDT by beethovenfan (If Islam is the solution, the "problem" must be freedom.)
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To: beethovenfan

You beat me to the punch, Mary Wells, 1962. True, it is a virus and more than that, a false religion enslaving 1.5 billion people to perdition.


3 posted on 10/09/2013 9:40:07 PM PDT by Fungi
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To: Steelfish

Obviously an Israeli plot. /sarc


4 posted on 10/09/2013 9:40:12 PM PDT by Slings and Arrows (You can't have Ingsoc without an Emmanuel Goldstein.)
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To: Slings and Arrows

We could only hope as much

No sarcasm intended.

While horrible in one sense I might find the quick death or even just loss of ability to reproduce of a large part of the Muslim world to be a beneficial thing


5 posted on 10/09/2013 9:48:44 PM PDT by Fai Mao (Genius at Large)
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To: Fungi

Absolutely true. islam is a disease.. and a false religion.


6 posted on 10/09/2013 9:51:52 PM PDT by southland ( I have faith in the creator)
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To: Steelfish

Inshallah...


7 posted on 10/09/2013 10:36:11 PM PDT by pluvmantelo (We can't expect to get anywhere unless we resort to terrorism-Lenin)
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To: Steelfish

I think it demonstrates that He knew what He was doing when He invented natural selection.


8 posted on 10/09/2013 10:41:49 PM PDT by Squawk 8888 (I'd give up chocolate but I'm no quitter)
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To: Steelfish

In spite of my profound apprehension about Islam as a way of life or worship, I would not wish a full blown MRSA attack on anybody, not one living soul, because they are still human beings. I have seen it, though very briefly. This couple needs to just wait about two years then go. Chances are that each would feel nervous guilt about changing their minds now.
This is only the latest reason why a moratorium on middle east immigration would make sense, but, we have already spun that record before.


9 posted on 10/09/2013 10:50:31 PM PDT by lee martell
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To: beethovenfan

Swine flu!


10 posted on 10/09/2013 10:56:26 PM PDT by Rodamala
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To: Rodamala
propofol, but might go with etomidate, methohexital, pentothal, or ketamine

I wonder if catching swine flu would make muzzlems permanently unclean and this would cause them to not able receive their eternal reward with allah.

11 posted on 10/10/2013 2:20:28 AM PDT by Right Wing Assault (Dick Obama is more inexperienced now than he was before he was elected.)
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To: Steelfish

I was just rehashing a script storyline about an engineered nano virus that activates the third time a body is on its knees praying, at that point the person becomes a living statue, conscious and aware but completely immobile, cannot move cannot talk and within hours dies.


12 posted on 10/10/2013 2:31:26 AM PDT by Spartan302 (Spartans never quit, they come back later with more warriors. Asymmetrical Warfare.)
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To: Steelfish

( ) Care (X) Not care


13 posted on 10/10/2013 3:38:24 AM PDT by Farnsworth ("The people have always some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness...This and no)
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To: Steelfish

Their moon god wants to kill them...


14 posted on 10/10/2013 5:01:01 AM PDT by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
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