Syria polio outbreak "may threaten Europe", experts warn

Rueters ^ | Thu Nov 7, 2013 6:32pm EST | Kate Kelland

[BenLurkin]

Vaccinating only Syrian refugees against polio may not be enough to prevent the crippling viral disease from re-infecting Europe where it has not been seen for decades, German scientists warned on Friday.

Writing in The Lancet medical journal, they said the risk to Europe from a re-emergence of polio in Syria was partly due to the type of vaccine generally used in regions that have not had the disease for many years.

Polio, caused by a virus transmitted via contaminated food or water, was confirmed among young children in northeast Syria last month - its first appearance there in 14 years.

[Slings and Arrows]

Good luck controlling it - the Arabs think that vaccination is a Jewish plot.

[BenLurkin]

Europe forgot the importance of borders, language and culture.

It is in immediate peril unless it acts quickly about the immigrant infestation.

[FrdmLvr]

So let the Arabs remain unvaccinated. Maybe polio will wipe them out. End of problem.

[Slings and Arrows]

Good luck with that too.

[Slings and Arrows]

Problem is that then they become disease vectors - and no vaccine is 100% effective, so the (relatively) innocent are still endangered. Ain’t dealing with savages fun?

[bigheadfred]

so ever one knows ima idjit but what specific segment of europe would (we) lose from polio when most of europe worth saving will have been vaccinated against polio

[Slings and Arrows]

See post #6.

[bigheadfred]

yeah i did ima a little slow typing tonite or maybe i just had an emotional breakdown when i read the headline

[Pontiac]

"Until the virus is completely extinct, it is essential that we continue to vaccinate our children."

I wonder if that is possible. Could we exterminate a virus.

[fifedom]

Good luck controlling it - the Arabs think that vaccination is a Jewish plot.

How about the idiot Western Europeans and Americans who are not vaccinating their children because they buy into theories that they cause autism or contain mercury or are unsafe for other unspecified reasons.

In epidemiology, there is a concept called herd immunity, which is an important barrier to the spread of diseases like polio. Imagine a population where everyone is vaccinated. If the vaccine fails, nothing is perfect, then one individual may get the disease but cannot spread it because everyone around him is immune. Now imagine the opposite where almost no one is vaccinated. Then when one person is infected, there is a background of other people who are susceptible and the epidemic can increase exponentially.

By not vaccinating, European and American Luddites are providing for the spread of terrible diseases like polio, whooping cough, which has an amusing name but kills many children, diptheria, etc.

The advent of anti-biotics and vaccination was a huge improvement in our lives. People should read about how bad things were before they came on the scene before they throw them away.

[fifedom]

I wonder if that is possible. Could we exterminate a virus.

Yes we can. It depends on the virus. Smallpox has been eradicated. Polio virus lives in water and fecal matter so we may not be able to eradicate it. But vaccination works so long as we continue to do it.

[Slings and Arrows]

I am in pharmacy school, and I am aware of the factors you mention. My opinion of the anti-vaxxers is not printable on FR.

[Viennacon]

“most of europe worth saving”

So, a couple of sparsely populated places in the east... and Malta. Got it.

[Viennacon]

Come now. The population of people in Europe and America who do not vaccinate for reasons related to Alex Jones is very small. Its growing, but its not much of an issue.

[MediaMole]

Just today, there was a story about a school in a wealthy neighborhood that had a major whooping cough outbreak. Thanks, Jenny McCarthy.

The whole, Vaccines are dangerous, argument works until 60 kids come down with a completely preventable illness and a few die.

[MediaMole]

See my post above.

A school in a very wealthy suburb of Milwaukee just had a major whooping cough outbreak because of the whole, don’t immunize your kids, idiocy.

I just wish the parents got the disease, instead of the kids.

[Viennacon]

Are there areas where this is more concentrated than others?

[bigheadfred]

my dad is from malta

[Viennacon]

Lucky him. One of the last safe havens.