“New ‘Flesh-Eating’ Disease Spreading Across Syria and the Middle East”

Cases of Leishmaniasis up from 23,000 before the war to 41,000 in 2013: Syrian Ministry of Health

The disease is spreading across Syria, with cases also reported in Palestine, Israel, Lebanon and Turkey, according to reports.

“Between 2000 and 2012, there were only six reported cases of the disease in Lebanon.”

However, in 2013 alone, some 1,033 cases were reported in Southern Lebanon, of which 96 per cent occurred among the displaced Syrian refugees, the Lebanese Ministry of Health has said.

Refugee settlements in Nizip, southern Turkey, have reported several hundred cases of the disease.

Speaking to Mail Online, Dr Waleed Al-Salem, one of the authors of the research was carried out in the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, said: ‘It’s a very bad situation. The disease has spread dramatically in Syria, but also into countries like Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey and even into southern Europe with refugees coming in.

‘There are thousands of cases in the region but it is still underestimated because no one can count the exact number of people affected.

‘When people are bitten by a sand-fly – which are tiny and smaller than a mosquito – it can take anything between two to six months to have the infection.

‘So someone might have picked it up in Syria but then they may have fled into Lebanon or Turkey, oreven into Europe as they seek refuge.

‘Prior to the outbreak of war there was good control of diseases, parasites and sand flies but when the conflict started no one cared, conditions worsened and the health system broke down, which has created an ideal environment for disease outbreaks.’

Of course, it wasn’t that “no one cared.” It was that no one was able to provide adequate care because the United States, Israel, the GCC, and NATO had overrun the country with savage terrorists and destroyed the infrastructure, not to mention the Western sanctions imposed upon the country which, alone, would have made it difficult to treat.

Syria Refugees Top 2 Million

FIRE-EARTH log on Syria – dated June 14, 2012

The joint proxy war waged by Saudi Arabia and Israel against Syria has entered a new phase. The head of UN peacekeeping operations has described the Syrian conflict as a “civil war.”

5,000 Refugees crossing Syria’s borders each day: UNHCR

Some two million Syrian refugees, including more than 1 million children aged 17 or younger, are now living in Iraq, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, said the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR.

The 2 million figure represents Syrians who have registered as refugees or awaiting registration. As of end August the total comprised 168,000 in Iraq, 110,000 in Egypt, 716,000 in Lebanon, 515,000 in Jordan, and 460,000 in Turkey.

The exodus represents “a disgraceful humanitarian calamity with suffering and displacement unparalleled in recent history.” said the High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres.

“The risks for global peace and security that the present Syria crisis represents, I’m sure, are not smaller than what we have witnessed in any other crisis that we have had since the Vietnam war,” said Guterres, a former Portuguese prime minister.

A further 4.25 million people are displaced internally, according to data from the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA),  which means there are now more people forcibly displaced in Syria than in any other country.

Human river of Syrian refugees cross border into northern Iraq, August 2013. Photo: UNHCR/G. Gubaeva

About 98 per cent of Syria’s refugees are hosted by 4 neighboring countries and nearby Egypt, placing an overwhelming burden on their infrastructures, economies and societies.

Meantime, UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie, has expressed her dismay at the level of death, destruction and danger that has forced so many Syrians to run for their lives.

“The world risks being dangerously complacent about the Syrian humanitarian disaster. The tide of human suffering unleashed by the conflict has catastrophic implications. If the situation continues to deteriorate at this rate, the number of refugees will only grow, and some neighbouring countries could be brought to the point of collapse,” she said.

Related Links

• Obama Itching to Accelerate Global Collapse August 31, 2013
• Destabilization of Middle East Intensifies August 26, 2013
• IDP Numbers Continue Rising Globally April 14, 2013
• Syria’s drought pushing 3 million people into “extreme poverty” September 11, 2010
• Middle East: Early Signs of Collapse July 5, 2010
• 2010 Disaster Calendar [February]
• 2010 Disaster Calendar [January]

• Mediterranean missiles reportedly launched by Israel to test its ABM [external link]
• Israel, U.S. test missile defense system in Mediterranean [external link]

Thousands Evacuated Amid Taiwan ERE, Flooding, Landslides

Dozens dead, injured or missing, up to 10,000 evacuated from Taiwan disaster zones

Flooding has triggered numerous landslides in Nantou County and Taichung in central Taiwan, as well as in New Taipei and Taoyuan County, and elswhere, leaving at least 2 dozen people dead, injured or missing, and forcing about 10,000 others to evacuate their homes, Taiwan’s  Central Emergency Operations Center reported.

• Extreme rain events (ERE) combined with the southwest monsoon have also destroyed or damaged thousands of hectares of crops around the island country.

• Flooding have also caused power cuts and water shortages to more than 100,000 homes, reports said. 
• Areas near more than 830 rivers and streams around the country have been put on  red or yellow alert for further flooding and mudslides.
• Meantime, several of Taiwan’s leading manufacturer have  suspended operations after a magnitude 5.2 quake followed by two smaller aftershocks rattled the mountainous Chienshih township north of the island, reports said.

Other Global Disasters, Significant Events

• Egypt. The so-called ‘Supreme Constitutional Court’ in Egypt has dissolved the parliament ahead of presidential runoff, reports said.
  • The highest court has also ruled the army candidate can remain in election race.
  • The decision by the supreme constitutional court, whose judges were appointed by Mubarak, is being seen as a ‘Judicial coup.’
  • Earlier, Mohamed ElBaradei said; ” Electing president in the absence of constitution and parliament is electing an “emperor” with more powers than deposed dictator. A travesty…”
  • On December 18, 2011, FEWW commented:
    • At least a dozen demonstrators have been killed and about 500 others wounded by the Egyptian army following a third day of clashes in a new round of uprising as the winter of the so called “Arab Spring” deepens.
    • Increasingly, the Egyptians are realizing that what they actually participated in wasn’t a “revolution,” but a coup d’etat, cunningly orchestrated by the military and its paymasters and carried out on the back of a mass uprising.
    • Egypt is Israel’s next-door neighbor. Hell would freeze over before Egyptians are allowed to have a functioning democracy!
• See also:
  • Oil Wars: Obama Intensifying Middle East Destabilization Posted  on October 12, 2011
  • Most Unethical Nations in 2011 [and Probably 2012] Posted on December 31, 2011
  • The Next Phase of Collapse: Wars initiated by Israel/US for Hegemony Over World’s Resources  Posted by edro on March 10, 2008

Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• Mass Die-offs

• 2010 Disasters [Links to 2010 Disaster Calendar]
• Mega Disasters
• 2011 Disaster Calendar
• 2012 Disaster Calendar