Polio Free for 10 years and counting, Europe may become infected

A confirmed polio outbreak in Syria, which is the first major occurrence in 14 years in this area, has jeopardized the global campaign to eliminate the disease. Polio can be transmitted orally, through coughs and sneezes, or through infected fecal matter. Although most of the world is protected because of immunization, which at one point put polio on the brink of elimination, many think that Europe is vulnerable and in danger of a recurrence of polio.

Millions of Syrian refugees have fled to Europe because of the war, which is why many believe that an outbreak could occur. Also, the safest vaccine, which is IPV, rather than the oral version, has some unintentional problems: “Patients treated with IPV can still be infected with wild poliovirus — the naturally occurring virus that causes polio — and transmit it to others, usually without any obvious signals (only about one in 200 infectees show signs of paralysis).” This means that people fleeing from the war could be infected without knowing it, and could easily spread polio to parts of the world that are not vaccinated.

A Syrian refugee camp

But there is no need for concern here in the United States- as long as immunization rates remain high. This is the largest vaccination effort in the Middle East, and the fact that polio could begin to spread again is somewhat disheartening. This outbreak shows the magnitude to which disease and war can disrupt our world. There is some controversy to the idea that the Syrian outbreak will spread to Europe, and some officials believe that it is more likely to come from other infected countries.

In class, we spent a large amount of time discussing the smallpox eradication and the ways that it was achieved. This article about polio eradication relates to that because of the efforts that are involved to vaccinate people and stop the disease. Unfortunately, the polio vaccine does not always fully protect from the virus, and vaccinated people can still become infected and spread the disease.

This article really made me think about the circumstances that these refugees are living in. Most are in unsanitary camps and can easily communicate disease to one another. We are extremely fortunate to not be in a crisis as they are, and I think that all efforts to prevent the spread of this horrible disease show the compassion that some people have, because the aid groups are risking their lives to help others.

Read more at: http://www.theverge.com/2013/11/19/5117168/polio-outbreak-in-syria-could-threaten-europe-experts-warn