Polio virus has been confirmed in 13 of 22 children who became paralysed in the northern Syrian province of Deir al-Zor. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE
GENEVA: Polio, that has crippled at least 13 children in Syria, has been confirmed as being caused by a strain of the virus that originated in Pakistan and is now spreading across the Middle East, the World Health Organisation said on Monday.
Genetic sequencing shows the strain found in Syrian children in Deir al-Zor, where an outbreak was detected last month, is linked to the strain of Pakistani origin found in sewage in Egypt, Israel and Palestinian territories in the past year.
"Genetic sequencing indicates that the isolated viruses are most closely linked to virus detected in environmental samples in Egypt in December 2012 (which in turn had been linked to wild poliovirus circulating in Pakistan)," the United Nations agency said in a statement on Monday.
Closely-related strains of the wild poliovirus of Pakistani origin have also been detected in sewage samples in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip since February 2013, it said.
Polio virus has been confirmed in 13 of 22 children who became paralysed in the northern Syrian province of Deir al-Zor. Investigations continue into the other nine cases. It is Syria's first polio outbreak since 1999.
No children in Egypt, Israel or the Palestinian territories have been hit by polio thanks to high immunisation rates and a strong response to the alert, WHO spokesperson Sona Bari said.
Polio virus is endemic in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria despite a 25-year-old campaign to eradicate the disease, which can paralyse a child in hours.
Immunisation rates
Militants from countries including Pakistan are believed to be among groups battling to oust President Bashar al-Assad, leading to speculation that they brought the virus into the country.
The WHO says it is unlikely that adults, who generally have higher immunity, carried the virus into Syria and that its mode of transmission will probably never be known.
Syria's immunisation rates have plummeted from more than 90 per cent before the conflict to around 68 per cent. Polio mainly affects children under five and cannot be cured, only prevented.
"All the children (paralysed) are under two years old, so they were all born after immunisation services fell apart," Bari told Reuters. "No doubt the outbreak will be large."
Children living in unsanitary conditions are especially vulnerable to the virus, which spreads via faecal-oral transmission and contaminated food and water.
More than 20 million children, including 1.6 million in Syria, are to be vaccinated in Syria and neighbouring countries over the next six months, UN agencies said last week.
COMMENTS (59)
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numbersnumbers: I am completely in favor of Polio vaccination, in fact, I believe the Pakistani government should do more to restore the confidence of the people of KP, FATA who have been victims of selfish foreign agents in the guise of polio workers. Pakistan's polio vaccination program must be fully Pakistani with strict safeguards to prevent abuse like what has happened. I am sure PTI will do a good job in that regard, we have confidence in our own government.
@Bakhtiyar Ghazi Khan: But you will have to respond to ALLAH after your passing, when he asks why YOU have condemned so many children to a life of misery from POLIO due to your ignorance and conspiracy Rantings!!!
@ Raj - USA: I don't need to respond to an enemy of Islam, Pakistan, and Pukhtoon people such as yourself. People like you who rejoice at the deaths of Muslims and Pakistanis are not part of this debate. Find a better hobby.
@Stealth: Sorry my bad.... But still percentage of 0.1million out of 180 million is around 0.05% and 2.4 million out of 1.2 billion is 0.02%
Still you have 2.5 times more AiDS victims than ours.....but I wouldnt gloat on someone's face about the number of patients as you do
But u still didnt answer my question,why are you pulling up AIDS patients report in a discussion about polio.????
@1984: Your maths regarding the figures are, I am afraid not correct. 97,000=0.1 million(close to) and not 1 million. 1 million is 10,00,000, with 6 zeros. 1 lakh has five zeros. You seems to be confusing lakhs and million. Here to explain it further. In metric system it goes like this. every number is multiplied or divided by 1000.
1 trillion = 1000 billion 1 billion = 1000 million 1 million = 1000 thousands(10,00,000)
Hope you get it.
@Bakhtiyar Ghazi Khan: If you suspect that the vaccination given by NGO's are poisoned, why is Pakistan not manufacturing polio drops itself. The inventor of polio drops did not patent it purposefully so that the entire world, mainly the poor countries could benefit. The inventor was Jew with a great heart. Anyone can manufacture polio drops and it very cheap to manufacture it also. However delusional minds can only think of conspiracies and nothing else. Many countries including India manufacture polio drops themselves.
@numbersnumbers: People like you who look down on their own countrymen and allow foreign agents a free hand against Pakistan's citizens are the problem. You are welcome to visit FATA and KP and ask the local people yourselves. Don't assume they are wrong without hearing their side of the story. The work of US agents like Shakil Afridi and others are well known here. This is part of a larger ethnic cleansing of Pukhtoons from Afghanistan to FATA, KP and the policy of US, NATO, India, and other foreign powers.
@Stealth: India has a population of 1.2 billion and Pakistan has just 180 million....
According to the same report, Pakistan has 97,000 (close to 1 million ) and India has 2.4 million.....
So you people have nearly 10 times more AIDS victims per 1000 persons compared to India.....
How come your pious Pakistanis have more AIDS victims than the infidel India??? Besides why are u bringing this up when we discuss polio???
Classic trick of diverting topic when cornered???
@Bakhtiyar Ghazi Khan: And of course you can provide CREDIBLE REFERENCES to support your delusion that "Foreign agents have been using Polio drops as biochemical warfare against Pakistanis"!!! NOT! I am surprised that you have not notified the UN about this global travesty, after all you must have documented cases and eye witness testimony provided by Pakistani parents whose children "died in front of their eyes from this poison"!!! OR NOT!! THE REAL TRAGEDY IN PAKISTAN IS THAT PEOPLE LIKE YOU SPREAD CONSPIRACY THEORIES ABOUT POLIO DROPS THAT RESULT IN CHILDREN NEEDLESSLY BEING CRIPPLED FOR LIFE BY A PREVENTABLE DISEASE!
...poor virus ..that too does not want to be associated with pakistan..!
The sadistic comments on a purely humanitarian subject, which deals with the sufferings of poor children and the haplessness is such a shameful act. Instead of giving some solutions and ideas, the persons here are deriving pleasure by inflicting pain, suffering, or humiliation on others, which itself is a bigger disease than the polio. Any human suffering anywhere in the world should incite sympathy and solace, and not hate and bigotry.
The kind of comments here raises serious questions about the well being of millions upon millions of people living in this part of the region in utter poverty and despair, be it India, Pakistan or Bangladesh. Hate without any reason and against poor kids itself is an emotional disease need to be cured, just like polio.
"Closely-related strains of the wild poliovirus of Pakistani origin have also been detected in sewage samples in Israel...... "
Can Pakistanis visit Israel? And even if yes, how many? would be very easy to identify number of Pakistanis visiting Israel in the last one year
India has one of the largest concentration of HIV infected people in the world. Ranks third in the world, after South Africa and Nigeria which numbers a horrifying 24,00,000(2.4 million). Pakistan is nowhere in the picture with just a few thousand infected people. Yes most Indians commenting here is right, It is ahead of Pakistan in many fields. Here I am not talking about deadly diseases like cholera, TB, and others, which again has more widespread in India.
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2012/07/10/hiv-aids-india
These Polio virus are new breed of Pakistani fighters. Kudos to Pakistan for coming up with such brilliant new ideas for exterminating humanity from the face of the earth.
@TightPatloon: Well said!
@Bakhtiyar Ghazi Khan: WOW, you say "Polio drops mixed with poison and distributed to Pakistan children"!! And if only you weren't so wrapped up in delusions and conspiracies to actually believe that crap!!!
Can we be reasonable peole?
@ All of the above blaming Shakil Afridi!
Pakistani clerics were still denouncing the polio vaccine for 23 years before Shakil Afridi's misuse. What was the excuse then?!
that's why you shouldn't go fight someone else's war.
This biological warfare by Pakistan must be stopped. Time to bottle up pakistanis inside their own "Land of Polio" and save the children of the rest of the world.
The blame lies solely on those using medicine for political means. Polio drops in Pakistan were mixed with poison and distributed to Pakistani children in FATA and KP by US and foreign workers, killing a number of children. This is biochemical warfare which is banned under the Geneva conventions. The same tactics are now being used against undesirable populations in Syria.
The Pakistani government should institutionalize immunization and make it impossible for foreign agents to infiltrate and sabotage Pakistani children's well-being. It is total war from the enemies of Pakistan such as the US, Israel, and India. If only they knew the fate which awaits them in death.
I have one question for all those who are claiming that Dr. Afridi harmed the Polio vaccination campaign by running a fake operation.
Every week, some TV channels in Pakistan expose rackets of adulteration of milk, cooking oil, etc. Do you stop drinking milk or using cooking oil based on these?
Do I have to remind that militants who were trying to oust Assad's government were supported by Saudis and USA? People of Pakistan were always against bloodshed in Syria but Polio is something that many children continue to suffer from in Pakistan too. Plus Pak-Syria relationships were never contentious as compared to histories of Pak-Afghan ,Indo-Pak or Iran-Iraq relationships.
Wow I write something and it doesn't go through but when someone curses pakistan you let it go through, it shows where your loyalty lie. Sell outs.
Wow! Pakistan's biggest exports to other countries: terrorism and diseases (polio being on top). Not something to be proud of.
like in waar movie..I believe India is behind this..
Pakistan's export to the world- Extremists and polio.
Blame it on biological non state actors who took those charter flight to Syria. How come Pakistan is not asking for more proof?
So Pakistan now has the dubious reputation of exporting one more undesirable commodity besides Jihadis - Polio. I feel its a Jewish/Hindu/Crusader conspiracy to defame Islam and hurt the Ummah.
@Anon: That's just finding excuses that aren't there. Osama was caught using a fake vaccine program, but the program was for Hepatitis B. Secondly, if you would read the newspapers, you'd notice people in Pakistan have long been suspicious of vaccines in general, before Shakeel Afridi did anything about it. Polio vaccines are "Western conspiracies to make the Muslims impotent and weak". Don't blame someone who didn't have anything to do with it.
World needs to immunize itself from Pakistan.
Exporting terror & now polio? Man... Pakistan is one big exporter! :P
It is about time the civilized world put a strict ban on People travelling from Pakistan into the foreign countries. Pakistan has not only been a source of global terrorism but they have also been the main exporter of worst diseases of the world. The Whabi jihadists who are going from Pakistan to Syrian civil war are carriers of fatal and crippling diseases. Too many dead bodies of Pakistani jihadists have come back from Syria but the press has kept mum about it. There should be a strict ban on Pakistanis entering other countries till we complete 100% immunization in Pakistan.
at least 50 years Indian visa must be ban for pakistanis .
@Anon: Clearly you didn't read that it is not carried by adults but young children...now obviously a little pakistani child must have gone Syria or...there's some unique case in this case but nevertheless I feel sorry for these innocent people being killed by violence and diseases.
We must break into those remote parts of Pakistan where the militants are holding populations hostage and depriving them of access to health and vaccination. This means establishing the writ of the Pakistani state by all means necessary before the world starts to put travel bans on Pakistanis.
Pakistan is an exporting nation. How much do they get in Foreign Exchange?
Are you going to stop the Al-Qaeda or other Wahhabi/Takfiris from taking the virus with them to Syria?
So Pakistan is not only epicenter of terrorism but polio too.....good progress.
Oh dear me! Whatever goes wrong in the world, we find our hand in it. Shamefull!
Next: HIV originated from Pakistan
@Anon: Way to prove your utter ignorance in the name of crass nationalism. Shakil Afridi was doing hepatitis B vaccination, not polio vaccination. Do not forget that the mullahs with Kalashnikovs had been speaking and acting against polio drops as a "western conspiracy" way before the Shakil Afridi episode.
Great! Another achievement by our great quam. First exporting terror and now the polio virus to cripple children. And we have people talking about blocking supply routes to fight to benefit those very people who shoot brave polio workers. When will we learn!!! How do we expect that world will respect us a nation and a civilization. Oh wait, we have the "bums".
Extremists backed by Saudis and Qataris are employing biological warfare. They are the ones who used chemical weapons too. These criminals with worldwide ambitions have no regard for human sufferings.
Thank you USA. your agent Mr afridi gave a good gift to Syria after pakistan.
But...but...but Pakistan also suffers from polio, the international community should not blame Pakistan for spreading polio because Pakistan is a victim of polio. . They should blame the RAW and Mossad agents who are distributing fake polio vaccines in Pakistan instead of real polio vaccines.
Bio-weapon?
Soon there will be more restrictions on Pakistanis wanting to travel to other countries.
They need to administer polio drop to kids leaving the country. Maybe that might stop these kind of events but it cant hurt, right? In my experience, most of the security over at Jinnah airport is standing around to ask for handouts from expats like me. Given them a dropper and ask them to help with the polio vaccination!
Polio, that has crippled at least 13 children in Syria, has been confirmed as being caused by a strain of the virus that originated in Pakistan
Crippled 13 children, and that too Muslim ? Well done Pakistan !
BREAKING NEWS ------------------------------ Pakistan has become exported of Polio..........................Polio virus as well Haqqani virus, both Islamabad's gift to the whole world.
This is obviously a Zionist-CIA-RAW plot to defame Pakistan.
Sharamnaak!
pakistan paindabad !
So US agent Shakil Afridi uses a fake polio drive leading to militants blocking immunisation drives in the country. Now the "rebels" being backed by western powers are spreading polio in Syria....