Lebanon, which hosts more than 700,000
Syrian refugees, said on Friday it would vaccinate all children under five
against polio after suspected cases of the crippling viral disease were found
in neighboring
Syria.
The World Health Organization (WHO)
said on Thursday at least 22 people had acute flaccid paralysis, a symptom of
diseases including polio, in Syria's eastern Deir al-Zor province, which
borders Iraq, most of them children.
Around 4,000 Syrians fleeing the civil
war cross into neighboring countries each day, hundreds of them into Lebanon
where many live in border towns or tented communities in rural areas with poor
sanitation.
There is no cure for polio, a highly
infectious disease which invades the nervous system and can cause irreversible
paralysis within hours. It can only be prevented through immunization.
There have been no reported cases of
suspected polio in Lebanon but health officials want to prevent the Syrian
outbreak from spreading.
"We are targeting around 700,000
children (Lebanese and others) in this campaign," caretaker Health
Minister Ali Hassan Khalil told reporters.
He said doctors from local health
services would work with the United Nations Children's Agency (UNICEF) and WHO
and go from door-to-door to reach the children.
Teams would also treat children
entering Lebanon by land or via Beirut International Airport.
The WHO said initial tests had come
back positive for polio in two of the 22 cases in Syria and final laboratory
results due next week were likely to confirm the presence of the virus.
It was the first appearance of the
disease in Syria since 1999. Lebanon eliminated the virus 12 years ago.
"To be clear, we have the
situation under control under the previous health care plans we were
conducting. There is no direct crisis and no reason for panic," Khalil
said.
Aid workers said doctors would
vaccinate the children regardless of whether they had been treated before and
would mark each child's finger with a long-lasting ink stain.
Polio is endemic in just three
countries - Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan, but sporadic cases occur in
other countries.
Worldwide, cases of polio decreased
from an estimated 350,000 when the campaign to eradicate it began in 1988 to
223 reported cases in 2012, according to the WHO. So far this year, not
including the cases in Syria, there have been 296 cases.
UNICEF said it would contribute 1.5
million rounds of the vaccination. Lebanon will do the first round of the
two-stage vaccinations from Nov. 8 to 12, and the second round between Dec. 6
and 10.
REUTERS
To watch Dalal Abou Haydar's report, please click on the VIDEO above