Middle Eastern health officials are warning their citizens not to go on hajj after more swine flu cases have been uncovered. The Hajj this year occurs in late November, and the three million Muslims flocking to Mecca and Medina and then home again could be an effective way for these individual cases to multiply. This is not the first time the Hajj has been a conduit for world epidemics. The 1865 cholera epidemic began with a few cases prior to the Hajj, and was then transported throughout the Middle East and Europe. In 2001, Saudi Arabia banned all Ugandan pilgrims from going on pilgrimage due to an Ebola outbreak.
