UN officials confirm polio outbreak in north Syria

UN officials confirm polio outbreak in north Syria

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The U.N. confirmed an outbreak of polio in Syria for the first time in over a decade today, warning the disease threatens to spread among an estimated half-million children who have never been immunized because of the civil war. The grim finding added another layer of misery to a brutal conflict that has already killed more than 100,000 people and uprooted millions. The aid group Save the Children urged a “vaccination cease-fire” to try to prevent an epidemic of the highly contagious disease.