Syria Refugees 'Could Spread Polio To Europe'

Refugees fleeing the civil war in Syria could cause an outbreak of polio in Europe, two German infection experts have warned.

Writing in The Lancet medical journal, they say the polio vaccine used in Europe is not effective enough to withstand transmission of the virus.

There are fears it may have been carried to neighbouring countries by refugees living in unsanitary conditions ideal for the transmission of disease.

The inactivated polio vaccine (IPC), which is injected, usually forms part of a combined diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough and polio jab.

Syrian refugees cross the border into northern Iraq

IPC provides protection from infection but it does not prevent the spread of the virus.

Professor Martin Eichner, from the University of Tubingen, and Dr Stefan Brockmann, from the Department of Infection Control in Reutlingen, point out that because only one in 200 polio infections cause symptoms, the virus could be circulating for nearly a year before a single case occurs.

By this time, hundreds of individuals may be carrying the virus.

Prof Eichner and Dr Brockmann wrote: "Routine screening of sewage for polio virus has not been done in most European countries.

"But this intensified surveillance measure should be considered for settlements with large numbers of Syrian refugees.

"Vaccinating only Syrian refugees - as has been recommended by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control - must be judged as insufficient; more comprehensive measures should be taken into consideration," they wrote.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed an outbreak of at least 10 cases of polio in Syria, where vaccination coverage has dramatically decreased because of the civil war.

Nearly all Syrian children were vaccinated against the disease - which begins with fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck and pain in the limbs - before the civil war began more than two years ago.

Polio was last reported in Syria in 1999.

In 1998, polio was endemic in 125 countries and there were an estimated 350,000 cases but that had fallen to just 223 cases in 2012 and it was endemic in just Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

However, WHO warns that if just one child remains infected the risk of the disease spreading again remains and eradication efforts in Nigeria and Pakistan have all been harmed by attacks by Islamist militants.

On Wednesday, the WHO increased the number of people it said must be vaccinated to 20 million as part of a vaccination campaign that will target children in Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories.

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