Because things aren’t bad enough yet in Syria.
The World Health Organization says it believes polio has erupted in war-torn Syria, a dire development in the fight to eradicate the disease.
The Geneva-based agency says a cluster of more than 10 paralysis cases have been detected in Deir Al Zour province in eastern Syria, a contested area of the country.
The WHO’s senior official for polio eradication says initial tests indicate polio is the cause, and efforts to address what could be a crisis situation are being geared up.
Dr. Bruce Aylward says the potential exists for a large scale outbreak that will take some time to bring under control.
That’s because the collapse of health services during the civil war has meant there are young children in Syria who haven’t been vaccinated.
Where there’s misery, there will be more misery.
While polio remains endemic – meaning transmission has never been stopped – in only Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria, several countries this year have seen spread of polio resume as a result of imported viruses. Among them is Somalia, where polio vaccination efforts were abandoned for four years because of conflict in the southern part of the country.
Misery—>worse misery.