The risk of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus spreading globally is worrying, given the annual mass gathering of the Hajj and the year-long influx of pilgrims undertaking the Umrah. Based on the incidence in Saudi Arabia since June 2012, the most likely scenario given recent pilgrim numbers is estimated to be one case per Hajj, and three Umrah pilgrims per year, but which could plaus...

Hajj os theorem states that every graph with chromatic number at least k can be obtained from the complete graph K k by a sequence of simple operations such that every intermediate graph also has chromatic number at least k. Here, Hajj os theorem is extended in three slightly diierent ways to colorings and circular colorings of edge-weighted graphs. These extensions shed some new light on the H...

Crowd simulation is an exciting research area that has a wide range of applications in multiple fields such as: serious games, crowd management, facilities design, entertainment, research and development. One of the most famous approaches to simulate a large density crowd is by applying the social force model. This model can be successfully used to simulate agents’ movement in real-world scenar...

Neisseria meningitidis is a leading bacterial cause of sepsis and meningitis globally with dynamic strain distribution over time. Beginning with an epidemic among Hajj pilgrims in 2000, serogroup W (W) sequence type (ST) 11 emerged as a leading cause of epidemic meningitis in the African 'meningitis belt' and endemic cases in South America, Europe, Middle East and China. Previous genotyping stu...

The pilgrimage (Hajj) is an annual event that takes place in Saudi Arabia. Three major government ministries (Foreign, Internal, and Hajj) create and process Hajj data separately in their systems. Currently all data sharing between these ministries regarding Hajj is done manually. Benefits from sharing data electronically are obvious. But due to the sensitivity of some data and the common requi...

An outbreak of serogroup W-135 meningococcal disease occurred during the 2000 Hajj in Saudi Arabia. Disease was reported worldwide in Hajj pilgrims and their close contacts; however, most cases were identified in Saudi Arabia. Trends in Saudi meningococcal disease were evaluated and the epidemiology of Saudi cases from this outbreak described. Saudi national meningococcal disease incidence data...

In this note, new Hajj and Umrah Event Recognition datasets (HUER) are presented. The demonstrated datasets are based on videos and images taken during 2011-2012 Hajj and Umrah seasons. HUER is the first collection of datasets covering the six types of Hajj and Umrah ritual events (rotating in Tawaf around Kabaa, performing Sa’y between Safa and Marwa, standing on the mount of Arafat, staying o...

BACKGROUND/AIM The annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, which attracts more than 3 million Muslim pilgrims from around the world, has played a role in the global spread of meningococcal infection. We aimed to compare pharyngeal carriage of Neisseria meningitidis in Hajj pilgrims before departure and after returning to Iran, Zahedan. MATERIALS AND METHODS This prospective and cross-sectional study...

conclusions psychiatric, neurological, gastrointestinal, and respiratory diseases are the most frequent reasons of referring patients to iran. more accuracy in screening and care of patients are recommended before hajj in order to prevent references to iran and its complications. results a total of 106 cases were referred iran during hajj 2012. psychiatric problems, with 26.4% allocated the hig...

To investigate the nasal carriage of some respiratory bacterial pathogens that are responsible for infections associated with person-to-person transmission, we conducted a cohort survey of pilgrims departing to Mecca for the 2012 Hajj season. In this report, we demonstrate the acquisition of Streptococcus pneumoniae nasal carriage in returning Hajj pilgrims.