Armenian health authorities warn tourists heading to Georgia against catching measles

YEREVAN, June 14. /ARKA/. Armenian medical authorities said no cases of measles were reported in the country, but warned the citizens planning to spend their vacations in the neighboring Georgia, against the threat of catching the disease.

Gayane Sahakyan, head of the national public immunization program of the ministry of health, told ARKA the epidemiological situation was under control and no cases of imported disease  were reported.

According to the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health of Georgia, the number of people infected with measles reached 4,611 people, of which 1,308  were hospitalized because of  complications. An 11-month child was reported to have died of the illness.

Sahakyan said people older than 34 planning to spend vacations in Georgia are at risk. A massive vaccination of Armenian citizens in 2007 involved citizens of up to 28 years, she explained.

"We advise all travelers to be vaccinated against measles at least four weeks before the trip," she said.

Ms. Sahakyan denied rumors that all people crossing the border from Georgia into Armenia are subject to mandatory vaccination against measles , saying the authorities have only stepped up control for early detection of persons with symptoms of the disease to prevent its spread. 

Measles (also known as rubeola is an infection of the respiratory system caused by avirus, specifically a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus. 

Morbilliviruses, like other paramyxoviruses, are enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses. Symptoms include fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes and a generalized, maculopapular, erythematous rash. Measles is spread through respiration (contact with fluids from an infected person's nose and mouth, either directly or through aerosol transmission), and is highly contagious —90% of people without immunity sharing living space with an infected person will catch it. -0-