No.84
2012/10/25

Have you been vaccinated against measles?
―We have had occurrences of measles in our university recentlyー
recently
What is measles?
Measles is an acute systemic infectious disease caused by the measles virus. The measles virus
infection occurs through airborne, droplet, and contact infections. Because the infectivity of measles isvery strong, even adults are affected by the disease unless they have immunity against it. Presence orabsence of this immunity can be checked by measuring the antibody titer in blood examination.
Measles virus infection is characterized by common cold-likecold like symptoms such as fever, cough, andnasal discharge after an incubation period, which is about 10–12
10days.
ays. A few days later, red eruptions(rashes) appear on the back of the neck and face, body temperature rises, and the eruptions spread allover the body. Sometimes, fever at temperatures of 38–39°C
38 39°C may last for a week to 10 days.
Measles infection is likely
ly to be complicated with pneumonia and tympanitis;; further, encephalitis has
been shown to develop in 1 of 1000 patients, with the mortality rate as high as 1 in 1000 patients, evenin developed countries with advanced medical services. Further, serious encephalitis
encephalitis called “subacutesclerosing panencephalitis” develops in 1 in 100,000 patients about 10 years after the initial infection.
In recent years in Japan, the number of vaccination increased as twice, resulting in a decrease in thenumber of measles cases.

How to prevent measles?
Because of the strong infectivity of measles virus and possible infection through airborne
routes, the spread of the virus cannot be prevented by merely washing one’s hands andwearing a mask. Vaccination
accination against measles is an effective preventive method and must be
taken twice to prevent measles.
※There are some individuals who have never been vaccinated against measles or vaccinated only
once. Only once of vaccination is known to cause insufficient immunity in several people, and inaddition, in some individuals the antibodies are gradually lost despite being vaccinated in theirchildhood. Therefore, receiving the second vaccination is important.

★Check your results of the annual health checkup at the first year of Gifu University
The Student Health Administration System
Syste （On campus） https://kenshinweb.gifu-u.ac.jp
https://kenshinweb.gifu
Gifu University conducts an antibody test for infectious diseases (measles, rubella, chickenpox, andmumps) in the annual health checkup at the time of your entrance. We recommend that students
with low titers indicating insufficient resistance get an additional vaccination at a medical institution.
instituti※ThoseThose students who were admitted to our university in 2010 or earlier could not have undergone theantibody test for infectious diseases at the annual health checkup at the time of their entrance. We
recommend that these students should check their history of measles vaccination with theirmaternity record book and receive the necessary vaccinations in case they have not received thevaccinations twice. If you have no record, you may have a measles antibody test at any medicalinstitution.