Polio reemerges in Syria

As of March 28, the number of confirmed cases of polio in Syria had reached 38, with scores more children having symptoms. One case was confirmed in Iraq. 

Syria had been declared polio-free in 1999, but the crippling disease reappeared in October 2013 in the Deir al-Zor (Deir Ezzor) province, where much of the infrastructure has been destroyed by the ongoing civil war. 

Despite the deaths of two doctors and injury to a third, medics in Syria are going door to door to try to vaccinate more than 1½ million children. More than 22 million in neighboring Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey have received vaccinations.