The United Nations has announced that it will vaccinate 2.5 million children and eight million others in Syria to prevent a widespread outbreak of polio. The Assistant Director General for polio and emergencies at the World Health Organization, Dr. Bruce Aylward said, this is the kind of virus that finds vulnerable populations and there are chances of an outbreak with hundreds of cases.
Hence there was no time to waste in vaccinating children against the disease.The move comes close on the heels of the decision by Lebanese health authorities that they will administer the polio vaccine to all children under age 5 in their country, which is sheltering seven lakh Syrian refugees. The discovery of 22 paralyzed children, mostly babies and toddlers, in Deir al-Zour in eastern Syria a few weeks ago has raised the alarm. For the first time in Syria since 1999, the laboratory tests have confirmed two cases as polio. Results for the rest of the cases are due next week.
Public health experts said the disease may have been brought into Syria by Islamic militants who joined the rebels to fight President Assad’s troops since there are signs that the polio strain is from Pakistan. While vaccination efforts have eradicated the disease , it still exists in parts of Africa, Pakistan and Afghanistan .Only 223 cases of polio were reported worldwide in 2012. Otherwise ,the mass immunization vaccination program has made Polio eradication as one of the major success stories in the field of public health.
Hence there was no time to waste in vaccinating children against the disease.The move comes close on the heels of the decision by Lebanese health authorities that they will administer the polio vaccine to all children under age 5 in their country, which is sheltering seven lakh Syrian refugees. The discovery of 22 paralyzed children, mostly babies and toddlers, in Deir al-Zour in eastern Syria a few weeks ago has raised the alarm. For the first time in Syria since 1999, the laboratory tests have confirmed two cases as polio. Results for the rest of the cases are due next week.
Public health experts said the disease may have been brought into Syria by Islamic militants who joined the rebels to fight President Assad’s troops since there are signs that the polio strain is from Pakistan. While vaccination efforts have eradicated the disease , it still exists in parts of Africa, Pakistan and Afghanistan .Only 223 cases of polio were reported worldwide in 2012. Otherwise ,the mass immunization vaccination program has made Polio eradication as one of the major success stories in the field of public health.
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