The regions of northern Syria are currently experiencing an apparent spike in the acute respiratory diseases as the Early Warning, Alert and Response Network (EWARN) reported a rise in the cases of respiratory syncytial disease which causes diseases and deaths at high rates in children aged less than 5 years, and aged less than 2 years in particular.
The coordinator at the Early Warning, Alert and Response Network (EWARN), Yasser al-Alfarouh said that “After monitoring the data of last five years and the recently recorded figures, the cases have begun to rise above the average since last month, and what is recently distinctive is the sharp rise at twice the normal average.”
Al-Alfarouh added: “The EWARN early monitors the level of epidemic diseases, especially the respiratory ones, through monitoring two syndromes. The first one is the disease similar to influenza, sever flu, which does not require hospitalization.
Concerning the second syndrome, the person suffers from an acute respiratory infection with the need to be hospitalized.
For his part, Idleb Health Director, Zuhair Qarrat, confirmed that “Since the beginning of last month, the directorate has been facing a shortage of hospital beds for children and incubators in intensive care, in addition to the presence of a large number of children suffering from bronchiolitis and multiple respiratory diseases that may be misdiagnosed as Covid-19.”
Qarrat stated that “We do not have the capacity to accommodate infected children, pointing out the need to seek help from the private sector, or to transfer some of these cases to Turkey in a limited number.”
Qarrat pointed out that we contact with all partners from the World Health Organization and UNICEF to address the problem and that we are seeking to distribute a good number of incubators to hospitals and expand some children’s departments in public hospitals.
