Select your language
Polio experts cautiously optimistic, but warn that disease could make renewed comeback
27 January 2015 | BEIRUT -A 12-month emergency immunization response across the Middle East appears to have halted an outbreak of polio that began in Syria and Iraq, according to health experts meeting in Beirut.
The outbreak, which paralysed at least 38 children in Syria and Iraq and prompted fears of a major epidemic, triggered an unprecedented response that immunized more than 27 million children across 8 countries. The outbreak in Syria – which spread to Iraq in early 2014 -- occurred due to the introduction of poliovirus from Pakistan.
