Danger for those going to Mecca

LATimes story about the worry that MERS, the new "SARS" or respiratory illness that can be fatal, may be spread throughout the world when pilgrims come home from the Haj.

Severe coughs or flu-like symptoms could be a sign of infection with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus, or MERS-CoV, as the virus is known — and an indication that the infection, thus far detected only in the Middle East and Europe, had spread to the U.S.
Or such symptoms could be nothing significant, just the typical illnesses pilgrims pick up every year during the crowded hajj.

ignore the ignorant comments: The Saudis are quite strict when it comes to the pilgrims and considering the numbers who go there, the deaths are few.

If I remember correctly, some people who attended a Catholic meeting spread SARS...
and catching illnesses in closed airplanes is a major problem for anyone.
we had our forehead temperatures scanned when we traveled by air back then, and our clinic was warned to check for SARS for anyone who had traveled from Asia or Canada.
but SARS was easily spread person to person, including some cases that seemed to be airborne rather than close contact.

MERS is not spread person to person, although there are one or two reports that indicate that a person might have caught it from another, and there have been two nurses in Saudi, one a Filipino who died, who contracted the disease, probably from a patient.

and small pox has been spread when a Somali patient gave it to a few others a decade or more ago.