Syphilis

Nearly a month after our last report on the syphilis situation in Japan, officials report an additional 495 cases, bringing the total cases for 2019 to 1627.

Image/MichaelGaida via pixabay

According to the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID), Tokyo has seen 425 cases followed by Osaka prefecture with 283 and Aichi and Hyogo with 88 each.

Japan reported more than 5,500 syphilis cases in 2017 and more than 6,000 last year.

Rubella

The vaccine-preventable disease, rubella, is another infectious disease Japan has been battling for more than a year.

With 71 additional confirmed cases reported during the most recent week, the outbreak total has now eclipsed 1200 cases.

364 cases have been reported in Tokyo, 156 in Kanagawa prefectureand 117 in Chiba prefecture.

Health regulations in place from 1977 to 1995 required only that junior high school girls be vaccinated for rubella, making men who are now between the ages of 30 and 60 vulnerable to infection.

Both antibody tests and vaccinations will be free for men born between April 2, 1962, and April 1, 1979, over the three-year period.

Measles

The number of measles cases in Japan has risen to 382 with Osaka prefecture accounting for more than one-third of the cases (129).