HYOGO (TR) – Seven more cases of measles were confirmed here on Thursday as Japan grapples with a mostly foreign strain of the virus it once eradicated years ago.
Six people in Amagasaki City were infected by an outbreak of measles originating from a nursery, while a 14-year-old female middle school student was confirmed to be infected on Tuesday, the Asahi Shimbun reports (September 8).
Amagasaki officials are screening several other children who are exhibiting symptoms, adding that none of the infected individuals recently traveled or visited Kansai International Airport.
But a female worker at the airport in her 20s who has measles returned home to Amagasaki on August 24 and broke out with a fever and rash, officials said.
Officials have yet to determine if the infected worker came into contact with any of the seven individuals.
A 5-year-old boy at the nursery was exhibiting symptoms like runny nose since August 22 and later broke out with a fever reaching 40 degrees Centigrade, officials said.
A doctor referred the boy to city officials, who found that measles had spread to the boy’s mother, three other children and a nursery worker in her 30s.
The infected middle school student broke out with a fever and rashes on Saturday, city officials said, adding that she and the boy were on their way to recovery.
