Measles loses its sting as colleges take action

The slew of measles cases that hit campuses around the capital last year seems to be under control now, thanks to a push among colleges in Tokyo to ensure all new students are vaccinated.

Measles typically spreads in May and June, but no major outbreaks of the virus have been reported this year.

Waseda University in Shinjuku Ward was forced to shut down classes temporarily last year. But this year, the school sent notices urging new students to get their shots and ensure their inoculations were up to date.

The school's website posted this warning issued by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology: "(Students) who are not immunized are prohibited from participating in practice teaching sessions as student teachers or in nursing-care sessions."

Soka University in Hachioji in western Tokyo last year canceled classes for two weeks. To ensure that about 6,000 students who had not been immunized received their shots, the school paid for them.

This year, the college urged its 1,800 new students to go for a measles antibody test before coming to campus. It also asked them to inform the school that they are not at risk of measles.

"I've heard that (checking) is the routine at U.S. schools. Now it is safe to say there is little chance that our students will be infected on campus," a Soka University official said.

Some schools, like the Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences based in Hachioji, have added a measles antibody test to checkups given each spring. Students whose tests are negative must be immunized.

An official at the Tokyo metropolitan government's Infectious Disease Surveillance Center in Shinjuku Ward said, "At the moment, we are not seeing the extreme surge of last year."

The same good news can be said of schools and nursery schools.

Last year, in the week of May 5 to May 11, 70 schools and preschools reported two or more cases of measles through designated clinics and hospitals. This year, there were none reported over the same week.

The Infectious Disease Surveillance Center sees two main reasons for the drop. First, last year's outbreak raised awareness at schools of the need for better prevention, including vaccinations. Second, the number of adults with antibodies is rising.

In late February and early March this year, 95 cases were reported in a single week. The news pushed school officials to take action, health officials said. The biggest group infected was in their early 20s, at 20 percent, followed by those in their late teens, and next those in their late 20s, the center found.

More than half of cases were people aged 20 or older. The center also discovered that more than 40 percent had never been immunized.(IHT/Asahi: June 17,2008)