Going to Euro 2008? Check Your Vaccination Records…

Bit of a health scare this week, with cases of measles on the increase in Europe. Apparently both Euro 2008 co-hots are affected, with the BBC claiming that “‘Significant’ outbreaks are currently occurring in Austria and Switzerland.”

If you’re not familiar, here’s Web MD’s description of measles:

The first symptoms of measles are like a bad cold-a high fever, a runny nose, sneezing, a sore throat, and a hacking cough. The lymph nodes in your neck may swell. You also may feel very tired and have diarrhea and red, sore eyes. As these symptoms start to go away, you will get red spots inside your mouth, followed by a rash all over your body.

In short, it’s not an ideal virus to have while trying to enjoy a major international tournament. It probably won’t help in your quest to meet sexy foreign Swissaustrian men and/or women either.

And according to European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control director Zsuzsanna Jakab “Measles is one of the most contagious viruses in existence, causing serious illness and even death.”

There’s no need to panic. There isn’t a measles apocalypse coming or anything and you definitely shouldn’t change your football watching plans. But if you are heading to Euro 2008, just check that you’ve been vaccinated. And if you haven’t been vaccinated, then the very simple solution is to get vaccinated. And then you won’t be watching Euro 2008 all covered in red spots.