The United Nation officials have recently confirmed
a polio outbreak in Syria. Tests have proven that ten out of the twenty two
children that have become ill are infected with polio. Results from the other
twelve children have not come back yet but they are expected soon. The United
Nations officials have said last week that they were going to begin a campaign
to immunize over two million children in Syria against polio and other
diseases. Since thousands of refugees are leaving from Syria daily, Syria’s
civil war to nearby countries, the officials are also getting strict when it
comes to immunization efforts. The
efforts are made in six countries such as: Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey,
which have taken in more than two million Syrian refugees that include Egypt
and Israel. Most of the children that are infected are younger than two. The
war has made it a little difficult to deliver vaccines, despite that set back, about a million Syrian children have been vaccinated
this year, 800,000 them were vaccinated against polio.
The fact that polio is
having an outbreak is a little worrying to me because people are constantly
traveling between countries. Some people travel for school, vacation, or to
escape traumatic situations. This travelling can cause a worldwide outbreak of
polio. Although the US requires polio vaccines for children, and experts
believe the disease is geographically restricted, I still think it is possible for
the virus to become immune to vaccines like malaria did in previous years. If
this does happen then more children would end up dying and the issue may be far
too big to handle because poor countries would not have enough money for the
newest and more expensive line of defense against polio. I think the war is a
huge issue right now. It can determine whether or not we get better control on
this outbreak and ensure that there are no more cases of polio outbreaks months
or even years later.
Khadijah Tucker
11/01/13
4:38
No comments:
Post a Comment