MERS is very scary, but there’s one place where the mood about the deadly virus isn’t scaring everyone. In Saudi Arabia, where the infection was first reported in 2012, skepticism about the virus has taken a strange turn: Saudis have begun kissing camels.
Experts argue that MERS coronavirus, or traces of it, have been found in a large proportion of the camels tested in Saudi Arabia. Camels might not be the main source of MERS (many experts point the finger at bats), but they seem like one big possibility. But for some in Saudi Arabia, avoiding camels is not such an easy task.
“Camels in the kingdom are like dairy cows, beef cows, racehorses, pulling horses, beloved Labradors, and living daily reminders of holy scripture, all in one,” Cynthia Gorney wrote for the National Geographic last week.
