Tanaka-Taya Keiko
Infectious Disease Surveillance Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, 1-23-1 Toyama, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8640, Japan.
Uirusu. 2010 Jun;60(1):59-68. doi: 10.2222/jsv.60.59.
The WHO Western Pacific Regional Office including Japan sets 2012 as the target year of the measles elimination. Japan notified "National Measles Elimination Plan in December 2007" aiming at being eliminate measles from the country by 2012. In 2009, total 741 cases (5.80 per 1,000,000 population) were reported (as of January 7, 2010). It was a remarkable decrease compared with 11,015 cases in 2008. However, the vaccination rate as of the end of 2008 fiscal year (the end of March) doesn't reach 95%. The first vaccination rate was 94%, and the second vaccinations for age groups of 5-6 years, 12-13 years and 17-18 years were 92%, 85%, and 77%, respectively. To prevent the spread of measles and eliminate in Japan, the whole nation recognizes that measles is a serious illness related to the life, and the department of the public health, the education, the medical units, and the research laboratories make an effort aiming at the goal for measles elimination is necessary.
