International travelers visiting Japan are advised by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to ensure they are fully protected against the Rubella disease before arriving in Japan.

The CDC issued an updated Level 2 Travel Alert for Japan on January 3, 2020, says ‘there is an ongoing outbreak of rubella, which is a contagious disease caused by a virus.

As of December 18, 2019, Japan’s National Institute of Infectious Diseases reported 2,288 rubella cases, Japan’s capital city of Tokyo reporting the most rubella cases, 854 during 2019.

For the majority of people, rubella, also known as German measles, is a mild infection, causing little more than a mild fever and a rash.

However, rubella is a very dangerous disease for pregnant women and developing babies.

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