Soccer fans attending the World Cup in Germany may take home more than they bargained for. Measles has broken out in the North Rhine-Westphalia region, which has three cities hosting World Cup games. Fans have been told to get vaccinated as a precaution.
As well as 1300 cases in Germany there have been outbreaks in Denmark, Greece, Spain, Sweden and Ukraine. On 15 June the UK Health Protection Agency (HPA) announced record numbers of measles cases in England and Wales: 449 by the end of May compared with 438 for the whole of 2003 鈥� previously the largest outbreak since new monitoring methods were introduced in 1995.
The Pan American Health Organization is so alarmed that it has warned fans from the Americas to get immunised before leaving for Germany. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a real possibility that residents of the Americas travelling to Germany will be exposed to measles virus,鈥� says Jon Andrus of the PAHO.
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Six of the eight American teams 鈥� Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, the US and Trinidad and Tobago 鈥� are playing their group matches in Cologne, Dortmund and Gelsenkirchen, the three cities hosting games in the affected area.
The UK HPA says that it is monitoring the outbreak in Germany to avoid exacerbating measles at home. Cases have risen unabated in England and Wales since some parents refused to have their children vaccinated with the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine because of now discredited fears that it causes autism.
