Polio Returns To Syria

More than 120,000 Syrians now call Zaatari refugee camp home. BBC

EU Commissioner: Refugee Crisis 'Horrifying' As Polio Returns To Syria -- J. Dana Stuster, Passport/Foreign Policy

The lawless conflict in Syria is rekindling dangers -- from disease to forms of political violence -- that have been dormant for decades, Kristalina Georgieva, the European Union's Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid, and Crisis Response, told FP on Monday. "We have spent, as humanity, decades to eradicate polio," she said in a conversation at FP's office, "only to see it again now because of this negligence to simple, basic rules of war -- even in a war there are rules to be followed."

According to the World Health Organization, polio was eradicated in Syria in 1995. But the disease has returned during the country's civil war. "To get polio, that was eradicated, to return," Georgieva said, "this is not only a danger for the Syrians, and it is criminal for the children of this country, but it is a danger for Lebanon and Jordan and Turkey and Egypt and the rest of the world because the refugees will bring it out.

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My Comment: The spread of disease will not only impact Syria .... but also the surrounding the countries. Israel is already preparing to inoculate 200,000 children against polio immediately, and it would not surprise me if in the next few weeks all the countries in the region will start to plan and implement the same inoculation program.