Measles outbreak closes Tokyo colleges

TOKYO, May 17 (Reuters) An outbreak of measles has forced some schools and universities in the Tokyo area to close temporarily for fear of the highly contagious disease spreading further.

More than 10 times the average number of adults were reported infected in the first four months of the year, an official at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases said today.

Tokyo's Nihon University said it had closed one of its campuses, affecting more than 9,000 students, for 11 days after 44 students were found to have been infected.

Sophia University, also in Tokyo, closed its doors for a week, although it allowed students in to receive vaccinations, after 14 were reported to have come down with influenza.

Yoshinori Yasui of the NIID said that samples suggest the number of patients runs into the thousands, with infections focused on adults in the capital aged 20 to 24. No overall figures are available, he said.

A concerted measles vaccination campaign in recent years could mean that young people, unlike their elders, have had little opportunity to build up further resistance to the virus following vaccination, he added.

Several schools in the capital have also closed, media reports said.

The measles virus causes skin rashes, coughing and fever, but patients in developed countries generally recover after a few days' bed rest. In rare cases, measles can lead to complications such as pneumonia or even brain damage and death.

Japanese media said a past dip in the immunisation rate caused by concerns over the possible side effects of the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination could be partly responsible for the spread of the disease.

But Yasui said the main infected age group was not those who would have been affected by the dip.

REUTERS DS DSR1056