Slanted Science

The scientific and religious worlds are soon to collide in an unusual way (that is, one which doesn’t involve Richard Dawkins, a Southern minister, and several tedious hours spent shouting questions at each other about the shape of giraffe’s intestines and the discovery of fish fossils on mountaintops). No, this time the stakes are rather higher than a bruised ego: they could include the welfare of millions of citizens during the winter months.

The reason is that muslims are about to perform their divine duty, and gather together in Mecca, Saudi Arabia to…well, whatever it is that religious people do when they arrive in the most magical of their magic places. Take drugs and smile stupidly, if our experience at the Led Zeppelin reunion gig is anything to go by.

Anyway, here is how this mass gathering may impact the entire world.

The Hajj involves 2-3 million people from all corners of the globe, packed together in a Saudi Arabian city, with limited access to sanitation facilities. The annual gathering always brings its share of disease sharing, but this year it may be of more concern to the outside world.

Because those millions of people are going to spend a few days in extremely close proximity (eating, sleeping, and throwing pebbles at a wall), acting as wonderful little mobile flu incubators. They are then going to disperse themselves, and their viral payloads, all around the world. This has epidemiologists (people who study the outbreak and progression of diseases) pretty worried.

A new report, published in the top-tier research journal Science and authored by representatives of the American Centers For Disease Control And Prevention and the Saudi government , sums up officials’ fears:

It will take vigilance, commitment, and action by all global stakeholders to reduce the potential impact of pandemic influenza during the upcoming Hajj pilgrimage.

To this end, several Arab states have warned at-risk citizens (pregnant women, young children, and others) against heading to this year’s event. There are also reports that some local airports have installed heat-sensing camera equipment, with the aim of detecting those arriving with fevers.

This seems to us to have the potential for widespread flu transmission. SlantedScience will monitor the developments. We’ll also take this opportunity to say that we really hope this does not lead to a generalized anti-Muslim backlash. As you know, we have no respect for religion: that’s “all religion”, not “a religion”. It just so happens that this event is a muslim one, and we’re hoping that the likes of FOX News can bear that in mind.