Some diseases, like chikungunya[10] tend to go undiagnosed. Our first two cases were initially suspected as having

dengue, both returning from Southeast Asia with fever followed by rash and thrombocytopenia, even leucopenia (Table 1). It is not an easy task to clinically distinguish the appearance of rash associated with each of the agents causing fever and skin manifestations. The endeavor becomes especially demanding, Obeticholic Acid research buy if a clinician is presented with a disease he or she has never come across—as is often the case for measles in Finland and Estonia. Measles is highly contagious. It is transmissible from 4 days before to 4 days after the onset of the rash. When misdiagnosed, the isolation of the patient is delayed, which allows more time for transmission. Hence, it is of particular importance for the doctors to be able to raise a suspicion of measles—leading to infection control measures without delay. The infection control measures taken for the present cases have been described elsewhere.[11] Notably, one of our patients had a short diarrhea, two were suspected as having mild pneumonia and urinary tract infection. www.selleckchem.com/ATM.html Approximately 30% of measles cases have one or more complications,[4] such as diarrhea (8%), otitis media (7%), pneumonia (viral or bacterial) (6%), and acute encephalitis (0.1%).[4] Bacterial superinfections appear to

be secondary to local tissue damage and depression of cellular immunity.[2] Travelers Methane monooxygenase may occasionally act as sentinels for ongoing outbreaks in their destinations. Our cases were reported on the European Network for Tropical Medicine and Travel Health (TropNet) member site, and we learned that no outbreaks of measles have been identified in Thailand as yet (Dr Jiri Beran, personal communication). While both flights with measles patients were charter flights flying non-stop from Phuket to Helsinki, transmission from other international travelers visiting Phuket remains

a possibility. However, our patients all stayed at different hotels and, moreover, the genotype of the virus in cases 1 and 2 was defined, and proved to be D8 known to be currently circulating in Thailand (MeaNS, http://www.who-measles.org). In Finland, with no autochtonous measles, all cases have originated in international travel. Out of the 20 measles cases identified among travelers since 1996, in 12 the disease was contracted in other European countries.[11] Notably, in countries where the disease is still encountered, like France, a short-term traveler with measles may have caught the disease already at home before departure.[12] Measles should be suspected as a cause of febrile rash in travelers returning from any area, even the most popular vacation resorts, such as Thailand.