Kinan Sultan, Baladi News
The Coordination and Support Unit said in an emergency press statement on Friday that "the laboratory tests of the samples sent by the unit to the laboratories of the Turkish Health Ministry in Ankara and confirmed by the World Health Organization reveal the existence of vaccine-derived poliovirus "VDPV" in Deir al-Zor in the city of al-Mayadeen.
The report added that a similar case appeared in Tal Abyadh in al-Raqqah countryside which is a dangerous indication of the spreading of the epidemic.
The Coordination and Support Unit called upon the United Nations and its affiliated agencies, on top of which WHO and the relevant international organizations to fight this epidemic. It also called upon the Turkish government to provide support.
"Firas Allawi", an anesthesiologist and resuscitation specialist said to Baladi News: "the number of casualties is horrific as it reached 37, one of them was confirmed in the laboratory.
Allawi pointed out that ISIS has carried out 4 vaccination campaigns, but the vaccines were stored for a long time in inappropriate conditions.
The symptoms of Polio started to appear about a month ago in the countryside of Deir al-Zor as the two-years old girl "Sham Hassoun Allawi" from Sabikhan village was confirmed to have it and most of the cases are from this village where 29 previous cases of polio were registered in 2013. It's noteworthy that ISIS is trying to carry out a new vaccination campaign to limit the spread of the virus.
Medical sources attributed the spread of Polio to the absence of vaccinations and the shortage in medical equipment along with the lack of sensing centers for epidemic diseases, not to forget the dire humanitarian situation caused by fighting and shelling.