Syria war: Polio paralyses 17 children in Mayadin and Raqqa

How fast can polio spread? I had thought it was an extinct disease?
Makes me wonder how many people over there are not vaccinated and if it will go epedemic?

WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told reporters that the 17 children with acute flaccid paralysis first showed symptoms between 3 March and 23 May.
"We are very worried, because obviously if there is already one case of polio of a kid that is paralysed it's already an outbreak," he warned.
"We know for example that for one kid that is paralysed there are almost 200 asymptomatic so it means that virus circulating, so it is very serious."

More than 300,000 people have lost their lives in six years of conflict in Syria, which began with protests against President Bashar al-Assad before escalating into a full-scale civil war. Eleven million other people have been displaced by the fighting.

BBC Link

a reply to: D8Tee
Cholera is spreading pretty bad in Yemen too. I guess this is the kind of stuff that happens when a place is under siege.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

Yea Yemen is in rough shape, do you have a thread going on that conflict?

a reply to: D8Tee
I do not have one at this time. I thought about starting one, but Raqqa and Mosul eat up a lot of time. I do have videos I added to the Documenting WW3 thread I started. I have not been updating that one too much though.

I feel like Yemen and now Philippines certainly need their own thread. I may do one for Marawi, because it is being under reported and its pretty nasty on the ground there as it has been in the Middle East. Plus it has now become a multi nation operation with the addition of Malaysia and Indonesia to US forces combating ISIS there.

Anyways, lets hope the SDF can clear this OP up within another couple of months so these kids can get their vaccines!!! Polio is supposed to be all but erased from existence!!! No reason for this to occur in what use to be a rather well kept society.

Perhaps it's due to the privilege of where I was born but I never knew polio was contagious or could spread....... This may be a matter of personal opinion but I assume it's my luck due to being raised vaccinated, in a community where most others are vaccinated as well.

Yikes! I remember talking to my grandfather before he passed, he remembered a time when they had colored paper for diff. quarantines for diff diseases. I asked him should I vaccinate my child or not and he said to me "You don't have to, if you're okay with seeing him succumb to such diseases as polio and MMR..... He said my generation doesn't remember such scary diseases because we were lucky enough to be born after vaccine and treatment had nearly eradicated it from our lives.

I think I'll spend some time today learning what polio really is and does. Thanks for sharing.

-Alee

Sad

Do you know if/how prevelant Polio was, say compared to before the civil war started?