Some 22 people are suspected of contracting polio in Syria, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday, which also happened to be World Polio Day.
Initial tests on two people sickened with acute flaccid paralysis in eastern Deir al-Zour came back positive, and final laboratory results due next week are "very, very likely" to confirm the virus, said Oliver Rosenbauer, WHO spokesman told Reuters. "Everybody is treating this as an outbreak (of polio) and is in outbreak response mode."
The last naturally-occurring polio case reported in Syria was in 1999. According to the report, the city of Deir al-Zor is partially controlled by Syrian government forces while the countryside around it is in the hands of rebels fighting to remove President Bashar al-Assad.
Polio is a disease that until now has no cure, it can only be prevented through immunization has been proven effective for controlling its spread.
Global health officials are concerned that Syria's civil war and continual shift of both refugees and internally displayed persons are providing ample room for disease to spread.
"Hospitals visited by UNICEF staff are reporting an upward trend in the number of children being admitted with moderate and severe acute malnutrition compared to two years ago," a UNICEF statement said.
Across the world, reports of polio has dropped from an 350,000 when the campaign first began in 1988 to 223 reported cases in 2012, according to the WHO. So far this year, not including the cases in Syria, there have been 296 cases worldwide.
