Measles is a highly contagious respiratory disease caused by measles virus. Measles cause fever, runny nose, cough, redness of the eye and a rash all over the body. The rash usually starts on the head and then spreads to the rest of the body. The incubation period of measles averages 10-12 days from exposure to prodrome and 14 days from exposure to rash. The disease can be severe and is most frequently complicated by diarrhea, middle ear infection and pneumonia (1-2 cases per 10 cases). Encephalitis occurs in approximately one out of every 1,000 reported cases and Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) , a rare degenerative disease of the central nervous system associated with measles virus, is said to occur in approximately one out of every 100,000 cases. Two major cause of death related to measles are pneumonia and encephalitis. They cause a death in every 1,000 reported measles cases in developed countries.

Measles virus spreads through the air by breathing, coughing or sneezing. It is highly contagious that any person who is exposed to measles virus and is not immune will likely be infected. There is no specific treatment to cure measles but to treat the symptoms as they appear. The only way to prevent the infection of measles is to get proper dose of vaccine. Please check your vaccination history if you are planning to visit/volunteer at the quake and tsunami-hit area and surroundings.

In the disaster-hit areas, there are still many people who are living in shelters with lack of balanced nutrition and/or bad health conditions. If measles virus spreads in this environment, we might expect more measles patients with severe complications than usual. In early April, there was a foreign journalist who visited Tokyo as well as the disaster areas for coverage and developed measles. The laboratory test for the virus indicated that its genotype was D4, which is non-indigenous one of Japan. Unfortunately, since then, we have been observing an outbreak of measles, majority of the cases have been reported with D4 in Tokyo metropolitan area and we are concerned with the situation.

We admire the high motivation and good intention of your visits to support the quake-hit areas, therefore, we strongly encourage that you keep the following instructions:

1) Avoid traveling to the quake and tsunami-hit areas if you have bad health condition.

2) Confirm your measles vaccination record. If you have unknown status or lack of recommended measles vaccine doses, get vaccinated before you visit the areas.

3) If you feel ill during your activity at the sites, please hold back