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Thanks to widespread vaccination over recent decades, measles has become a fairly rare disease. The causative agent of the disease is a virus, and the transferred disease contributes to the development of stable immunity against the recurrence of measles.
Course of the disease
The disease begins with a three-day fever, cough, runny nose, sore throat, redness of the conjunctiva and swollen eyes. During this period, measles is usually confused with a common ARVI, but its characteristic sign is white spots on the inside of the cheeks. After 3 days, the temperature returns to normal and improvement occurs, but soon a high fever of up to 40 degrees develops. Rashes appear on the skin: at first they are light red in the form of dots, then they merge and darken to brown, the skin itches.
Possible complications
A rare but extremely dangerous complication of the disease is encephalitis (inflammation of the brain). Encephalitis manifests itself in the form of seizures, disorders of the nervous system and various disruptions in the body. Every fourth child has irreversible brain damage, and every sixth child dies. A fairly rare late complication is subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, a chronic inflammation of the brain that occurs 5-10 years after measles. The disease develops over 1-3 years and is always fatal.
When to call a doctor
The next day if you suspect your child has measles. During the day, if a sick child complains of ear pain, or feels unwell with a skin rash. Seek medical attention immediately if your child throws his head back and twitches convulsively; if the breathing pattern has changed or the wings of the nose visibly move when breathing (a sign of pneumonia); if dark red spots (ecchymoses) appear on the skin or mucous membranes.
Doctor’s help
The doctor reduces the temperature and treats complications of the disease. There is no drug treatment for measles.
Your help to the child
Child care is required for 10 days or two weeks. Due to inflammation of the conjunctiva, it is recommended to darken the patient’s room. If the skin is very itchy, you can resort to wiping with cool water. To prevent the disease and possible brain damage, measles vaccination is recommended (double vaccination starting at 11 months of age). A side effect of vaccination can be a mild version of measles in 10% of children. The risk of developing brain inflammation in vaccinated children is reduced to 1:1000000 (in unvaccinated children it is 1:1000). If an unvaccinated child comes into contact with a child with measles, you can prevent the disease from developing by getting vaccinated within two days.