Photo Gallery Polio's Frightening Return
Doctors are increasingly concerned about a growing polio epidemic in the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor. It may be the most dangerous outbreak in years, but treatment is being hampered by the divisions of the Syrian civil war. Here, a health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child as part of a UNICEF-supported campaign in Damascus.
In areas like Deir ez-Zor, which are not controlled by the Assad regime, it is difficult for doctors to get the vaccine. Dr. Khalid Milaji, a Syrian doctor, is outraged by the decision of the World Health Organization (WHO) to block a vaccination campaign because of the organization's need to align with the governing regime.
Over the last two years, the province of Deir ez-Zor has been decimated by bombing. There is no more electricity, health care, telephone network or sewage treatment plant. Close to half a million refugees are crowded into towns along the Euphrates River, which is where the first polio cases occurred in September. Here, a rebel fighter is pictured on a road in Deir ez-Zor.
Ironically, WHO is the same organization that has waged an extremely successful campaign against infantile paralysis, or poliomyelitis, since 1988. Cases of polio have been reduced by 99 percent during that time, and the number of affected countries has declined from 125 to half a dozen. Here an Afghan health worker administers a vaccination to a child on the outskirts of Jalalabad.
The first polio vaccine was developed by Dr. Jonas K. Salk, seen here in his laboratory in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The first inoculation using the vaccine developed by Dr. Salk was adminstered on Apr. 26, 1954.
Although only an average of one of 200 infected children develops the most serious symptom, permanent paralysis, and others experience only mild symptoms or none at all, anyone who is infected can spread the virus. This is why a minimum vaccination rate of 95 percent is considered necessary to prevent the spread of the disease. Pictured: A youth suffering from polio in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Lebanon's Caretaker Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil administers a polio vaccination at a hospital near Zahle in Lebanon. Following the outbreak in Syria, the country has launched a massive initiative to vaccinate children against the disease.
Syrian refugee children walk to receive their polio vaccine in a refugee camp in Lebanon. While campaigns are being launched in the surrounding area, the epicenter of the epidemic in Syria still remains without the vaccines necessary to stem the outbreak.
