<div><p>A measles outbreak in and around the Austrian city of Salzburg has spread to about 180 people, most of them schoolchildren, authorities said Thursday.</p><p>"There is no need to panic," Health Minister Andrea Kdolsky said in a statement. But she and Salzburg Gov. Gabi Burgstaller urged people under the age of 40 who have not had measles to be inoculated.</p><p>A notice on Salzburg's Web site said about 180 individuals in the city, the nearby region of Flachgau and neighboring Bavaria, Germany, are reported to have caught the highly contagious disease, with symptoms such as high fever, coughing and red skin spots.</p><p>Austria strongly suggests, but does not require, that parents have their children vaccinated against measles. In the United States and other countries, public and private schools often refuse admission to children who have not been inoculated against measles and other infectious diseases.</p><p>Authorities have launched an investigation to determine if negligence may have led to the spread of the disease in Austria and Germany, said Marcus Neher, acting spokesman for the Salzburg public prosecutor's office.</p><p>Neher said interviews were being conducted with employees and parents of children enrolled at the Rudolf-Steiner-Schule Salzburg, an alternative private school in Salzburg where the epidemic is believed to have started.</p><p>He stressed the probe is still in its initial phase and that it may take a while to complete the investigation since some of those who attend or work at the school live across the border in Germany, Neher said.</p><p>In a statement, the school — which has been temporarily shut by health authorities — said it has cooperated closely with Salzburg authorities since it became aware of its first measles cases.</p><p>Countering criticism by some, the school said it never advised parents against vaccinating their children.</p><p>However, Hubert Hrabcik, director general of public health in Austria's Health Ministry, said the vaccination rate for measles, mumps and rubella — administered together in a two-part process — at the school may have been "almost nil," whereas the Alpine republic's rate for children up to the age of 14 was about 90 percent.</p><p>Of the people with measles, five aged 16 to 30 were hospitalized but recovering and one was released Thursday, Salzburg's Federal Medical Center said.</p><p>Last year, there were 18 reported cases of measles in Austria, compared to 27 in 2006 and 10 in 2005, Hrabcik said.</p><p>He appeared optimistic that the current "infection chain would soon be broken" but predicted a possible doubling in the number of cases.</p><p>Initial biological analyses seems to suggest the strain of measles in question entered Austria from neighboring Bavaria, where some Rudolf-Steiner-Schule Salzburg students live.</p><p>The strain is believed to have originated in Thailand and moved to Bavaria from Zurich, Switzerland, Hrabcik said, cautioning that final results won't be available for some time.</p><p>In an effort to curb the number of infections, Salzburg schools will now require students to prove they have been inoculated or that they previously had the disease. If students refuse to be vaccinated, they could be barred from classes, Hrabcik said.</p><p>Once a scourge of children in Europe, measles spreads very easily, jumping from person to person through droplets emitted in sneezing or coughing. It is one of the most contagious diseases known, according to the World Health Organization.</p><p>An estimated 242,000 people, the majority of them children, died around the world from measles in 2006, the latest year for which figures are available, the WHO says.</p><p>____</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>WHO measles factsheet: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs28</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=17426182&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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