Rubella Patients in Japan Up 18-Fold
Tokyo, Nov. 6 (Jiji Press)–The number of rubella patients reported in Japan from the beginning of this year through Oct. 28 totaled 1,692, up 18-fold from the whole of 2017, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases said Tuesday.
In the week through Oct. 28, the reported number of patients came to 170, topping 100 for the eighth consecutive week.
Among the country’s 47 prefectures, Tokyo had the largest year-to-date number of patients at 589, followed by Chiba at 269, Kanagawa at 233, Saitama at 110 and Aichi at 88.
If pregnant women are infected with rubella, babies may be born with hearing loss, heart disease and cataracts.
The health ministry is calling on women hoping to become pregnant and family members of pregnant women to receive antibody tests and vaccination.
https://jen.jiji.com/jc/i?g=eco&k=2018110600898
https://www.niid.go.jp/niid/images/epi/rubella/181031/rubella181031-2.pdf