Measles spreads in universities

What kind of virus is this...? targeting university campuses only?
or Health Ministry is hesitant to announce the 'outbreak' of measles in japan?

 

some14some: I go to Obirin University in Machida, and yes, there have been a few cases here. But it is hardly an epidemic.

 

What's the deal here??? I've been waiting for this to hit the campus where I teach so I can get a week off. We're not far from Waseda and their students hang out at similar places.

I also can't help buy notice that the more "prestigious" (yes, in quotes...) are the ones getting hit.

Any ideas what's going on, anyone???

 

Some good friends of mine have kids in these schools, and they say the whole thing is ridiculous. Not the virus, I mean there's not much you can do there, but I mean the fact that despite these schools being 'closed', the kids still have to go there and report for clubs and teams for the day. In fact, club and team activities have been INCREASED! Anybody who's going to get sick has, or will.

To answer a poster above, part of the reason things are affecting universities more than elsewhere are because of the dormitories, for the most part. If you think Western university dorms are bad, some school dorms in Japan are complete cesspools.

 

Who knows?.... maybe Big Pharma here needs a ready supply of human guinea pigs for a new measles vaccine? I was at Doshisha in Kyoto yesterday, even eating at the cafeteria, though so far haven't heard anything about measles there. And Doshisha is considered a top university in Japan.

OK, wacky theories aside....

This is from details of an outbreak of measles in the Netherlands from April 1999 to January 2000
http://tinyurl.com/2xe2wg

"In response to the outbreak in the Netherlands ... control activities were implemented, including
1) tracing contacts of cases,
2) offering vaccine or immunoglobu lin to susceptible contacts,
3) alerting all secondary-care and tertiary-care hospitals about the measles outbreak,
4) requesting general physicians to report all suspected cases,
5) conducting catch-up vaccination sessions at municipal health service center, and mother and child clinics,
6) increasing media attention about undervaccination, and
7) urging parents to complete vaccination of children."

Now that outbreaks, or at least clusters of infections, are occurring, I can readily expect that not much at all will happen in Japan (by the national govt, anyway) to really mitigate the situation, until the outbreak gets REALLY BIG, like nationwide, or... some tragedy strikes. Such is the way the dinosaurus Japanese govt usually responds to things like this. (Or maybe this expanding outbreak hitting some illustrious universities will be the catalyst that awakens Diet members to act.) From what I've read, though, it seems that items 6 and 7 above are where Japan's health services for its citizens are really weak. The vaccine apparently ran out earlier this past week, too.

Schools are a common location for outbreaks to occur, as would be prisons, or anywhere else many people congregate together in small spaces over extended periods of time. Despite that, could this be a sign of many young peoples' immune systems just not being up to par? I wonder what else is going on with those getting sick here, so getting some demographic info on them could be revealing: age, gender, background, diet, sexual habits, hours of sleep a night, travel occurrences esp. overseas, etc.

Finding the original disease vectors could be impossible but at least there possibly needs to be a lot more immunization of young kids.

 

Antibody tests on measles to be suspended because of shortage of drugs
Mainichi, May 26, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/2hpwe8

Referring to my post above, it was the antibody tests that have run out, not the vaccine, though this article then quotes a ministry official... "We failed to ask manufacturers how much vaccine is available. We'll try to grasp the situation as quickly as possible."

The Japanese govt has a history of not being very well prepared for health situations like this. Let's hope this one doesn't spread and become any worse than it already is, and that whoever's in charge grasps it real soon.

 

Hmmm, I must be going to the wrong doctors in japan.

My son got all the required shots so far, when it came to measles I was even tested and asked to take another shot to be 100% sure.

So far he has survived all the major outbreaks of sicknesses at hoikuen and school unscathed.

Actually most of my doctors even tell us when is the best and cheapest time to get flu shots, allergy shots, etc.

One got very strict with our shots when my wife had to go through chemo due to cancer and told us it is better to get vaccinated than risk her health.

Same that guy that cured me of depression and is looking after my wife and her cancer follow ups. Speaks english and german too.

Like I said looks I go to the wrong docs.

 

Zen_Builder, not sure what your point is or where your apparent sarcasm is being directed, but if all doctors in Japan were like those you've had, then evidently all those getting sick at universities lately are the ones going to the wrong doctors.

As I mentioned, I've read reports that Japan's immunization efforts have indeed been lax in recent years. Of course, this doesn't say much about why those now getting sick got sick; unless this lax attitude by the govt has been going on a while, they seem older than those the reports' comments must have been referring to.

I've also had generally good experiences with doctors in Japan, as has my wife (though neither of us has ever been encouraged to get another measles vaccine in the 12 years we've been here). But I still believe that, in general, Japan's govt is not very good at preparing for long-term effects of health-related issues, of which the recent measles outbreak seems to be another example of. Measles seems to be reappearing in other countries lately too, so now is the time for Japan to make sure that ALL doctors, or actually, ALL residents in Japan, are attentive about getting vaccinated just as your doctors and you were.

 

My point being is that if I as a foreigner(in japan for 10+yrs) can find a good doctor, so can most people.

Most people are too lazy and simply go for the most readily available doctor of even refuse to see a japanese doctor and see an "international" doctor or clinic.
Which, IME, turned out more than useless.

FYI, the local Red Cross Hospital told my wife with stage IIIC breast cancer that she should better prepare for her death(nearly but the guy in ICU), but the national cancer hospital told her not too worry and she has been cancer-free for 1.5yrs now.

IME, the guys are NOT as bad as they are made out to be.
Most of the guys I know studied medicine in europe.

Moderator: Back on topic please. The subject is measles.

 

I'm sorry to hear about your wife, and wish her all the best, including a full, eventual recovery.

I generally don't have a problem with doctors in Japan, though it is hit or miss sometimes as you point out. My point is more with the govt. bureaucrats in Japan, namely the national govt in Tokyo. They're the ones who set the overall guidelines (or are supposed to, I believe), and similarly the ones who've been lax, IMO, in their duties to fully protect the public where health is concerned. I've never been to an int'l doctor or clinic, so can't say anything there from experience.

At any rate, there are certainly various reasons for why these measles outbreaks have been occurring, the lack of a consistent & thorough vaccination regimen among the public possibly among them. Again, let's hope that whoever's supposed to take charge does indeed take charge and does something not only to curtail what's happening now but also think about how to prevent something like this happening again in the future.

 

According to what has been told to me, Japan has been vaccinating its children for years. However about 20 years ago many children were having bad side effects from the vaccinations they were giving. At the time they decided to stop the widespread practise of vaccinating the children. The stoppage lasted about 6 years, and then they restarted vaccinations. So there is a window of about 6 years when lots of kids werent vaccinated. Hence most of the people catching the measles now are from that group of children who werent vaccinated 20 odd years ago.

It only takes one person to initially catch the virus for it to be spread. Measles are highly contagious. The first group of recent sufferers likely thought they just had a mild fever, and so didnt htink twice about going out on that gokon with their classmates...and so on and so on and so on...

 

...are immune from measles. Cancelling classes is no prob, but it'd be a shame to cancel sa-kuru stuff.

 

Thanks jammer for the info.

Following up to learn more, I found this blog post that I think helps explain what's happened in more detail.

http://tinyurl.com/2fww7a

I still feel the Japanese govt in general is quite lax about understanding the importance of various health issues (among other things), as the above post points out too, but it's also helpful to get some perspective here on the recent measles outbreaks.

The WHO wants to eliminate measles in the western Pacific region by 2012, so hopefully the botched vaccination regimen in Japan between 1988 and 1993 that's now showing up in universities here won't mess up those plans.
http://tinyurl.com/36j7al

 

Here in my university in Ibaraki, the hospitals have run out of vaccination kits, and the next batch of kits are expected to arrive next November. Also, the test for antibodies is so expensive! c.c; Fortunately, my mother was very careful with getting her children vaccinated and the reinforcement shots through childhood, for all the vaccines the pediatrics recommend. I feel safe, but I would still like to take the test for antibodies... but it's expensive. I think if there's an epidemic, this is the wrong time for private clinics to hike the prices.