麦加朝圣面临甲流爆发危险

Three millions of Muslims from all around the world are making the annual pilgrimage to Islam's holy city of Mecca. It's an Ancient ritual, religious ritual. But this year, swine flu fears have officials taking modern-day precautions. NBC's Tom Aspell has details.

It's the largest single gathering on the planet, more than two million Muslims from 160 countries at their annual pilgrimage to the holy sites of Mecca, an ideal breeding ground for swine flu. Saudi Arabian officials fear the virus might spread here and then be carried across the world when the pilgrims go home.

We are doing very heavy surveillance at this point, looking for the H1N1 virus, and also checking if there is any change in the virus strain.

Saudi Arabia's front line of defence against swine flu is at its airports. Arrivals are screened by thermal cameras to check for abnormal temperatures. Health workers check vaccination papers and offer free shots. A fleet of mobile medical units, more than 200 health care centers and 25 fully equipped hospitals are on standby to deal with outbreaks of diseases during the hajj.

Confident for this following preparation, confident in the team of the Ministry of Health, and confident in the facilities that are enough if needed.

Around the grand mosque in Mecca, sanitation workers disinfect the ground where the virus could linger, volunteers hand out face masks, but not all pilgrims wear the masks, even though they know the virus is dangerous.

It depends on who wants to believe it, but I don't worry about that very much.

For Muslims, the hajj is the most important journey of their lives, it's the biggest religious congregation on the face of the planet, but disease has no respect or a religion, and this year, for the first time, the Saudi Arabian authorities are cooperating with international health organizations, in an effort to stop the spread of the H1N1 virus.

So far, fewer than a hundred cases of swine flu have been detected and only four deaths confirmed. For TODAY, Tom Aspell, NBC news, Mecca