AFP reports that at least eleven people in Syria have died of swine flu since September.
"Since September, 27 people infected with the H1N1 virus have been hospitalised. Eleven of them died," Ahmad Damiriyeh of the health ministry's division on chronic and contagious diseases confirmed to the state-run news.
The deaths occured in multiple regions of Syria, indicating that swine flu has spread throughout the country.
Swine flu, caused by the H1N1 virus, is spreading across the region. In Iran, over 100 people died from swine flu between November and December 2015.
The ongoing war has left Syria's healthcare infrastructure almost nonexistent. Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) released a report in December 2015 that over 95 percent of doctors had fled or been killed in Aleppo. There are also reports of hospitals being attacked in airstrikes.
Swine flu can be deadly to even normally healthy people - but with widespread starvation and limited access to healthcare, Syrians are at a much greater risk. According to UN reports, at least 250,000 Syrias have been killed in the ongoing conflict.
