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Discuss this article (2 Comments)Thousands cancel pilgrimage amid swine flu fears
by This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it on Saturday, 09 May 2009
TRAVEL BAN: The Egyptian health ministry is considering banning people from attending this year's Umra. (Getty Images)
Thousands of Egyptians have cancelled their plans to travel to Saudi Arabia on their minor pilgrimage later in May due to fearts about swine flu, it was reported on Saturday.
Figures from the Chamber of Commerce show that booking rates are down by 60 percent for the Umra to Makkah, according to vice president of the chamber Nasser Turki.
The cancellations followed an announcement by the health minister that he was considering banning pilgrims from traveling for three weeks as part of the Egyptian government’s response to the outbreak of H1N1, Turki said, according to Egyptian website Almasny Alyoum.
The Middle East has only seen seven confirmed cases of swine flu that have been limited to Israeli citizens, a number of whom had recently been in Mexico, the epicentre of the outbreak.
Related: MAP: Spread of swine flu
No suspected cases of the virus have been reported in Egypt or Saudi Arabia.
However, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that if the virus enters Africa it could cause more deaths as the region has fewer resources to deal with an outbreak.
Furthermore, mass pilgrimages to Makkah have resulted in deaths from infectious diseases before.
In 2001 35 people contracted meningitis and 10 people died after attending the Hajj, which attracts millions of people from all over the world, resulting in a crowded environment where viruses can easily spread.
Egypt has already stoked international controversy by culling a major proportion of its pig population in response to the swine flu threat, despite WHO saying there is no evidence the virus is passed from pigs to humans, or can be contracted by eating pig products.
So far 17,374 pigs have been slaughtered under orders of the Ministry of the Environment, most of which were rounded up from the Greater Cairo area.
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"Garbage Men"
Posted by Bahraintaxi on Sunday 10 May 2009 at 13:52 UAE time
Re:
"The Christian population in Cairo is mostly of the higher classes of society"
Well, it is if you class many of the poors ones as "Garbage Men" (the so-called "Zabaleen" are mostly Coptic Christians).
The size of the Coptic population of Egypt is a highly contentious issue politically. Estimate range between 6% and 20% of the population, depending on who you talk to.
Might distinguishing between the "Garbage Men" and other Coptic Christians a way of keeping the percentage down?
Posted by Bahraintaxi on Sunday 10 May 2009 at 13:52 UAE time
Re:
"The Christian population in Cairo is mostly of the higher classes of society"
Well, it is if you class many of the poors ones as "Garbage Men" (the so-called "Zabaleen" are mostly Coptic Christians).
The size of the Coptic population of Egypt is a highly contentious issue politically. Estimate range between 6% and 20% of the population, depending on who you talk to.
Might distinguishing between the "Garbage Men" and other Coptic Christians a way of keeping the percentage down?
The Pig Cull
Posted by Tarek, Kalamazoo, USA on Saturday 9 May 2009 at 15:27 UAE time
The Infamous Pig Cull
The news of the Egyptian pig cull in response to the impending H1N1 virus pandemic has been circulating the news for over a week. It has been puzzling –and for me, embarrassing- how raiding pig "farms" and slaughtering all pigs would be considered a measure to combat a human virus spread by humans. Moreover, media outlets have delivered reports of riots and clashes of a religious nature following this puzzling decision. I would like to seize the opportunity to shed some light on this decision, and whether or not there may be a sound reasoning behind it, or unique circumstances surrounding it.
Professors of Veterinary medicine and Epidemiology in Cairo University have already voiced their objection to the cull as an anti-H1N1 flu measure, as it is non-scientific and adversely affects the country's image, and so the ministry of health made a statement revealing the true intent behind the cull:
1) Unlike the US and other European countries, Egypt does not have pig 'farms'. Pigs are raised by garbage men in an extremely poor and densely populated slum in Cairo called "The Garbage men district". They feed exclusively on tons of rotten organic waste which piles up in this area, and wander freely, mingling with the densely packed human population in the district. Under United States law, this simple fact is in violation of environmental law which would immediately shut down such a "facility", should one exist in the midst of an American city. Moreover, regardless of the impending swine flu pandemic, the fact that these pigs have been feeding exclusively on rotten organic waste in garbage disposal facilities, are not subjected to any sort of veterinary medical surveillance and are only slaughtered and sold to the poor once they age or die, is – according to US law- a health crime. Such pigs, if they would exist on US soil would not even be slaughtered, but would be immediately executed with their meats deemed non-suitable for human consumption. Let alone the fact these possible vectors are mingling freely with the general urban population – which is also in violation of US environmental regulations- in a densely packed zone, whose inhabitants move back and forth between their homes in the slum and a their work in a city inhabited by 15 million people, compared to 10 million inhabitants in the entire vast state of Michigan.
2) Coptic Christians in Egypt do not eat this pork, for the above mentioned reasons. Those who do, opt for exported pork. The Christian population in Cairo is mostly of the higher classes of society, and is unanimously with this decision that was long overdue. The riots and clashes that have been circulating the news as "Christian vs. Government" are in fact the "Garbage men" and their families in the slums rioting against a decision that would have been made in the United States years ago had this problem occurred on US soil.
3) Unlike measures undertaken in Lebanon, Israel and Jordon regarding the regulated swine population in these countries respective farms, the pigs in Egypt could not have been "checked and treated for H1N1" as the flu was not the issue of concern here, but rather the fact these pigs meat was not suitable for human consumption by US standards, and have been posing an obscene environmental and health hazard, again by US standards.
4) The unregulated and hazardous swine breeding among the human population in Egypt has been a problem for many years, yet the government could not address this issue as this district in Cairo is somehow out of the government's control. The pigs helped the garbage men get rid of organic waste, and the fact that the meat of the aged and dead pigs is sold for consumption on a limited scale was put a lid on. The inhabitants of this small district are extremely poor people, with nothing to lose, and few ways of making a living. Governmental reach is literally non-existent in these slums. One year ago, there was an impending rock slide targeting the area where these people were living in randomly scattered homes, some made of cardboard. The government issued a warning in order to evacuate the area and relocate this population to a safer zone. The calls were rejected by the people, national security guards were fought out, and when the rock broke off, it wiped out hundreds of homes and dozens died. The hazardous and unlawful swine industry (according to US law) has not been previously addressed as it was impossible to carry out this decision without a relatively wider support of the population in this area.
5) Human to swine transmission of H1N1 has already been documented in Canada, when an entire herd of pigs was infected by a farmer coming from a recent trip to Mexico in early April. Laboratory tests revealed that the virus infecting the swine herd was the exact same virus infecting humans. However, as the swine industry in Canada is regulated and abiding to WHO health and environmental regulations, this would not lead to an outbreak or even a mentionable spread among humans.
6) Egypt cannot afford another influenza outbreak. The country is already #1 in worldwide avian flu case prevalence and fatalities, even though –contrary to swine breeding- poultry breeding was a relatively highly regulated industry.
7) Finally, Egyptian Prime Minister, Nazeef, has already declared that proper pig farms are "already being established outside the urban population mass", similar to swine farms in the United States. So, swine breeding is not being eradicated, but regulated in accordance to health regulations and environmental laws readily maintained, implemented, and enforced as one of many protected consumers' rights, in the United States of America.
Posted by Tarek, Kalamazoo, USA on Saturday 9 May 2009 at 15:27 UAE time
The Infamous Pig Cull
The news of the Egyptian pig cull in response to the impending H1N1 virus pandemic has been circulating the news for over a week. It has been puzzling –and for me, embarrassing- how raiding pig "farms" and slaughtering all pigs would be considered a measure to combat a human virus spread by humans. Moreover, media outlets have delivered reports of riots and clashes of a religious nature following this puzzling decision. I would like to seize the opportunity to shed some light on this decision, and whether or not there may be a sound reasoning behind it, or unique circumstances surrounding it.
Professors of Veterinary medicine and Epidemiology in Cairo University have already voiced their objection to the cull as an anti-H1N1 flu measure, as it is non-scientific and adversely affects the country's image, and so the ministry of health made a statement revealing the true intent behind the cull:
1) Unlike the US and other European countries, Egypt does not have pig 'farms'. Pigs are raised by garbage men in an extremely poor and densely populated slum in Cairo called "The Garbage men district". They feed exclusively on tons of rotten organic waste which piles up in this area, and wander freely, mingling with the densely packed human population in the district. Under United States law, this simple fact is in violation of environmental law which would immediately shut down such a "facility", should one exist in the midst of an American city. Moreover, regardless of the impending swine flu pandemic, the fact that these pigs have been feeding exclusively on rotten organic waste in garbage disposal facilities, are not subjected to any sort of veterinary medical surveillance and are only slaughtered and sold to the poor once they age or die, is – according to US law- a health crime. Such pigs, if they would exist on US soil would not even be slaughtered, but would be immediately executed with their meats deemed non-suitable for human consumption. Let alone the fact these possible vectors are mingling freely with the general urban population – which is also in violation of US environmental regulations- in a densely packed zone, whose inhabitants move back and forth between their homes in the slum and a their work in a city inhabited by 15 million people, compared to 10 million inhabitants in the entire vast state of Michigan.
2) Coptic Christians in Egypt do not eat this pork, for the above mentioned reasons. Those who do, opt for exported pork. The Christian population in Cairo is mostly of the higher classes of society, and is unanimously with this decision that was long overdue. The riots and clashes that have been circulating the news as "Christian vs. Government" are in fact the "Garbage men" and their families in the slums rioting against a decision that would have been made in the United States years ago had this problem occurred on US soil.
3) Unlike measures undertaken in Lebanon, Israel and Jordon regarding the regulated swine population in these countries respective farms, the pigs in Egypt could not have been "checked and treated for H1N1" as the flu was not the issue of concern here, but rather the fact these pigs meat was not suitable for human consumption by US standards, and have been posing an obscene environmental and health hazard, again by US standards.
4) The unregulated and hazardous swine breeding among the human population in Egypt has been a problem for many years, yet the government could not address this issue as this district in Cairo is somehow out of the government's control. The pigs helped the garbage men get rid of organic waste, and the fact that the meat of the aged and dead pigs is sold for consumption on a limited scale was put a lid on. The inhabitants of this small district are extremely poor people, with nothing to lose, and few ways of making a living. Governmental reach is literally non-existent in these slums. One year ago, there was an impending rock slide targeting the area where these people were living in randomly scattered homes, some made of cardboard. The government issued a warning in order to evacuate the area and relocate this population to a safer zone. The calls were rejected by the people, national security guards were fought out, and when the rock broke off, it wiped out hundreds of homes and dozens died. The hazardous and unlawful swine industry (according to US law) has not been previously addressed as it was impossible to carry out this decision without a relatively wider support of the population in this area.
5) Human to swine transmission of H1N1 has already been documented in Canada, when an entire herd of pigs was infected by a farmer coming from a recent trip to Mexico in early April. Laboratory tests revealed that the virus infecting the swine herd was the exact same virus infecting humans. However, as the swine industry in Canada is regulated and abiding to WHO health and environmental regulations, this would not lead to an outbreak or even a mentionable spread among humans.
6) Egypt cannot afford another influenza outbreak. The country is already #1 in worldwide avian flu case prevalence and fatalities, even though –contrary to swine breeding- poultry breeding was a relatively highly regulated industry.
7) Finally, Egyptian Prime Minister, Nazeef, has already declared that proper pig farms are "already being established outside the urban population mass", similar to swine farms in the United States. So, swine breeding is not being eradicated, but regulated in accordance to health regulations and environmental laws readily maintained, implemented, and enforced as one of many protected consumers' rights, in the United States of America.
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