Are Mecca and Medina immune to the spread of epidemics and diseases like swine flu or the plague?

Mecca and Medina are not immune to epidemics. Indeed, an epidemic struck Medina during the reign of Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him. It is authentically reported from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, that plague will not enter Medina, and in some narrations of the hadith, it is mentioned that it will not enter Mecca either. Al-Nawawi reported from Abu al-Hasan al-Mada'ini that no plague has ever occurred in Mecca or Medina. Some scholars mentioned that Mecca was afflicted by a plague in the year 749 AH, but Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar responded that it was not a plague but another epidemic. Thus, the conclusion is that Mecca and Medina are protected from plague, but not from other diseases and epidemics.