The Saudi SARS

The London Daily Mail reports that a deadly new virus has broken out in Saudi Arabia.  Sixty percent of those who get it die, but show no symptoms for twelve days.  This means victims can infect others unknowingly, and be ticking time-bombs as they fly to distant parts of the world.

Add into the mix the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca known as the hajj, where millions will be closely packed together this fall.

The so-called Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (or MERS) is, in short, a formula for a deadly pandemic for which there is, at the moment, no known treatment.

While health specialists urgently consider how to contain this disease, one immediate measure seems mandatory:  Call off this year’s hajj.  And, failing that, quarantine those who seek to return here from it.