THE HAJJ AND BIRD FLU

FT:

Saudi Arabia has had to contend with the threat of bird flu as well as heightened security fears at the start of this year's hajj pilgrimage, which began yesterday.

Officials in the kingdom have been on high alert after warnings from health experts that the gathering at Mecca, Islam's birthplace, of more than 2m pilgrims from around the Muslim world could provide conditions for a deadly bird flu pandemic. ... So far the deadly H5N1 strain of avian influenza has killed only people in sustained and direct contact with infected poultry. But experts fear that in certain circumstances it could mutate into a form transmittable from human to human.

Victims of the disease have included three children from Turkey, who died last week, providing the latest evidence of the disease's progression from Asia to the fringes of Europe.

Other Cconfirmed H5N1 vitcims come from the most populated Muslim nation in the world, Indonesia. Other diseases have broken out at the Hajj - including polio. Saudi authorities say they're prepared - more HERE and HERE and HERE.