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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Flesh-eating tropical bug in ISIS-held Syria ‘spreads across Mideast’ |
| 2016-05-30 |
| [ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A disfiguring tropical disease that had been previously been contained in Syria is now reportedly spreading across the Middle East as millions are displaced, the Daily Mail reported on Saturday. Cutaneous leishmaniasis, which can lead to severe scarring on the face, is a parasitic disease spread by bites from infected sand flies. The disease regularly goes undiagnosed and untreated. The disease had been contained in Syria, particularly to regions under ISIS control such as Raqqa, Deir al-Zour and Hasakah. The ongoing Syrian civil war has devastated the country's medical facilities and along with the chronic lack of clean water, the situation has created a breeding ground for sand flies the carry the disease. In September 2012, the disease’s outbreak began among Syrian refugees in Leb, according to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. |
| Posted by:Fred |