Health experts hope to one day eradicate measles, like they did for smallpox, and they are close to doing for polio. In fact, the Measles Initiative has a "goal of reducing measles deaths globally by 90% by 2010 compared to 2000 estimates."
Measles
Despite having measles in their target, measles is unfortunately still a big killer around the world.
In fact, the virus that causes measles is the leading cause of vaccine preventable death in children, leading to over 400,000 deaths each year in kids under age five.
Measles is a type of paramyxovirus and is highly contagious.
Measles Symptoms
Because measles is relatively uncommon in the United States, parents and health professionals aren't always quick to recognize measles symptoms. Since measles is still so common in the rest of the world, and we still have regular measles outbreaks in the United States, it is important to think about measles, especially if your child hasn't had a measles vaccine, has traveled outside the United States, or has been exposed to someone who has.
Symptoms of measles usually begin about 10 to 11 days after exposure to someone else with measles (incubation period) and can include:
- fever (which begins as a low grade fever and then continues to increase each day, until it reaches its peak of 104 or 105 F on the fourth or fifth day of being sick, and then breaks a few days later)
- malaise (not feeling good)
- coryza (sneezing, runny nose, and congestion)
- cough
- conjunctivitis (pink eye)
- Koplik's spots (small bright red spots with a white center, which are found on the inside of a child's mouth, usually on the insides of the cheeks, and which are a classic symptom of measles)
- lymphadenopathy (swollen glands)
- anorexia
- vomiting and diarrhea
Another classic symptom of measles, is that these children develop a rash on the fourth day that they are sick. The measles rash begins at a child's hairline with small red flat and raised (maculopapular) spots and then spreads down to their face, arms, and trunk. By the third day after the rash appeared, it spreads down the child's legs to their feet. Once the rash begins to go away, the pattern reverses itself, as it goes away first on the child's face and upper chest, and on his legs and feet last.
The symptoms usually peak on about the fifth day after they began, and then most symptoms go away over the next few days. The cough may linger for a few weeks though.
Treating Measles
Unfortunately, there is no cure for measles. Besides vitamin A for malnourished children with measles, there aren't any real treatments either.
Instead, treatments for measles focus on the basic treatments like for when any child is sick with a serious illness, such as bed rest, fluids, and fever reducers, like acetaminophen and ibuprofen.
Although most children recover from measles, even without treatment, some do unfortunately have complications, which can range from ear infections and pneumonia to acute encephalomyelitis (inflammation in the brain and spinal cord that can lead to seizures, deafness, and brain damage). And unfortunately, about 3 to 4 out of every 1,000 people with measles die.
What You Need To Know
- German measles is actually a totally different viral infection -- rubella -- which is also called 3-day measles. To confuse things more, measles is also known as rubeola.
- While measles is literally just a plane ride away in the rest of the world, it can be even closer than that. In early 2008, children were exposed to measles at airports, on airplane trips, at grocery stores, school, hospitals, and even in their pediatrician's office, as other people with measles unknowingly expose people.
- A measles vaccine has been available since 1963. It is now given as part of the MMR vaccine when children are 12 to 15 months old and then again when they are 4 to 6 years old.
- Although it is still a worry for some parents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), several large "studies have found no relationship between MMR vaccine and autism."
Sources:
Gershon: Krugman's Infectious Diseases of Children, 11th ed.
Plotkin: Vaccines, 5th ed.
CDC. Vaccine Safety Concerns. Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) Vaccine and Autism Fact Sheet.
