Over at Freakonomics they're talking infectious diseases. Here's an interesting snippet:

At the Hong Kong airport, you are required to pass through an area that uses some sort of technology to detect body temperature. If you have a very high fever, they pounce on you and presumably quarantine you because of fear of SARS.

Scary stuff the threat of infectious disease epidemics. A flu epidemic may be something worse than a terrorist attack. Hard to say. I gotta go wash my hands.

Technorati Tags: epidemic, Hong Kong, infectious disease, influenza, airlines, flu, Freakonomics, SARS

Comments

[Sam]

I have to travel to and from Hong Kong a lot. I first saw that temperature detector 2 years ago when SARS was at its height. Up to 5 uniformed security officers were there I was so nervous of not passing the temperature test. Maybe I was being irrational. Or maybe they are actually freaky.