Monday, June 15, 2015

Gimme a kiss



 1,800 schools and kindergartens have temporarily shut their doors amid an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in South Korea. It’s likely the most significant outbreak of the disease outside the Middle East, and over the weekend, the World Health Organization released details on new cases of the disease in South Korea. It also issued a surprising piece of advice for individuals seeking to avoid infection: Drink neither raw camel milk nor camel urine.
Who would even think of such a thing!  Maybe someone really, really thirsty - or really lonely, or both.

 Camels may serve as a transmission point to humans.  Unfortunately, in parts of the Middle East, drinking camel urine is not as uncommon as one might think. In parts of the Arabian Peninsula, the liquid is consumed for its allegedly palliative properties. The Prophet Mohammed is said to have informed his followers to drink camel urine to cure them of disease.
Another bit of sage advice from the prophet.  I mean, one day you are watching a camel urinate on the sand, and you think, "Hey, that stuff might cure disease!  Lemme see if I can persuade Abdul to 'consume' some of it, fresh from the spigot.  Hey, Abdul..."
In 2013, an intrepid reporter for Vice (named Abdul) sampled the substance while in Yemen. “The taste of warm piss is, as you would expect, disgusting,” he wrote. “But when it’s mixed with camel milk, as it traditionally is, it’s even worse. Getting rid of the musky aftertaste that takes over your mouth after the first sip is impossible.”
To some things, one should just say no.



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