Drive to stop kisses as greetings as Egypt detects swine flu cases
By Ramadan Al Sherbini, Correspondent
Published: June 09, 2009, 11:36
Cairo: More than three years ago, Dr Adel Ashour, a pediatrician, started a campaign to stop kisses as a way of greetings in this country of 80 million.
At the time, his campaign did not generate much attention. He still thinks that current fears about a potential outbreak of swine flu give his campaign a sense of urgency.
The reason for my campaign is the fact that kisses are a vehicle for the transmission of around 15 diseases, said Dr Ashour. According to him, the list includes the common flu, bird flu, swine flu, tonsillitis, sinusitis, pneumonia, rubella, tuberculosis and some types of hepatitis.
