Washington warns ‘perfect storm’ of conditions leaves Isis-controlled Iraq and Syria vulnerable to outbreaks of infectious disease

Charlie Copper writes for the Independent:

A “perfect storm” of conflict and the breakdown of state healthcare have left swathes of Isis-occupied Syria and Iraq vulnerable to outbreaks of infectious disease, America’s new science envoy to the Middle East has warned. Dr Peter Hotez, a leading global health expert, said an outbreak of leishmaniasis, a disfiguring disease spread by sand flies, was already “out of control” in Syria, and he also warned about the rising risk posed by Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers) in a region where many hospitals have closed and disease surveillance control measures are hampered by fighting.

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which has killed nearly 8,500 people, mostly in Liberia and Sierra Leone, both of which had recently emerged from civil conflict, should be a warning to the world over the fragility of war-torn regions, he added. “The fact that Ebola arose out of a post-conflict setting in West Africa is not a surprise,” he told The Independent on Sunday. “We know that if there’s a part of the world with this toxic mix of poverty and conflict you’re going to see epidemics of neglected tropical diseases. What I’m predicting now is that the next shoe to drop is in Isis-occupied Syria and Iraq, that will be the next place where we’ll see real problems.”