Buenos Aires, May 24 (IANS) Argentina’s Ministry of Health recommended that those traveling to Russia for the World Cup get vaccinated against measles before departing, according to a statement from the Football Association of Argentina (AFA).
It is recommended that the vaccination be given at least 10 days before traveling to the World Cup, which will be played from June 14 to July 15, reports Efe.
“Although vaccination is not a requirement for entering Russia, it is essential that the virus does not return to circulate in Argentina,” the ministry said in statement sent to the AFA on Wednesday.
According to the statement, health authorities “warned that there could be contagions that come from the circulation of the virus in Europe and the attendance of people from different countries to the World Cup,” and that last year about 21,000 people contracted measles in Europe.
“In the course of this year, the situation is far from being controlled both in Europe and in other regions of the world, as well as in America,” the Ministry of Health said in the statement.
At the end of March, the government of the City of Buenos Aires confirmed that an 8-month-old baby had contracted measles, which is the first autochthonous case of this virus in Argentina in almost two decades.
The statement from the Health Ministry warns that imported cases have been reported in recent years due to the high circulation of measles in other regions.
The largest outbreak was in 2010, after the World Cup in South Africa, with 17 cases diagnosed.