Signs And Symptoms Of Measles In Children

Measles is a very infectious fever of childhood, usually very rare in adults. Incubation period is 10 days. Symptoms begin with fever, sneezing, running nose, dry cough. It is like a bad cold. This is called, in fact, the catarrhal stage. Then, after 4 days of fever, and 14 days from infection, the rash appears. The spots are slightly raised. When the rash fades there is peeling of the epidermis (desquamation).
Only a very few indeed suffer the complication of inflammation of the brain (encephalitis), but in poor countries, because 1-5 per cent of the children suffer from severe malnutrition and 20-25 per cent from moderate undernutrition, measles is a very severe disease, and there are many cases of pneumonia or diarrhoea associated with measles and some children may develop kwashiorkor or marasmus afterwards. It is one of the most important causes of death among children in continents like Africa.

There is no treatment for measles itself, but the pneumonia can be treated with penicillin, dehydration calls for fluids.
Cause. A virus.

Source of Measles in Children

Other children with measles, especially those in the early catarrhal stage before the rash has made the diagnosis clear.
Route. Aerial, by droplet infection.

Susceptibles of Measles

All children who have not had measles or have not been immunized. The age differs in different countries.
In developing countries it seems that measles infection comes early in the life of children; the average age of the children in hospital with measles or pneumonia following measles is about 2 years.
Thus by the age of 4 most children have had measles. Most babies under 6 months are not susceptible to measles because they still have maternal antibodies.

Measles Treatment

There is no drug for the virus of measles but penicillin and other antibiotics are useful for the complications caused by bacteria, for example pneumonia or otitis media.
If there is diarrhoea then the mother must be instructed how to make a simple water, patt and sugar mixture and to give the baby lots of drink.
Measles is most dangerous and severe he the child is malnourished. Special attention should be given to protein foods and foods containing Vitamin A. If there is much conjunctivitis, tetracycline eye ointment should be used.

Prevention of Measles

Until the development of measles vaccine it was not possible to prevent measles, but now children can be immunized against it. All that is stopping it from being used widely is the expenses.
The immunization is done by giving one injection of the vaccine subcutaneously. After that infection has taken (in 10 days), the child will become immune.
There may be slight complications. Often there is a small fever for 1 or 2 days, then some days after immunization and sometimes in a very few days a very mild rash, but neither is serious, and there are no complications such as pneumonia.
It is no use giving measles vaccine to children under 6 months, as the maternal antibodies prevent the immunization from taking; nor it is often useful to give it to children over 3 as they have mostly already had measles and are therefore already immune. So it should be given to children between the ages of 7 months and 3 years–unless there is a very clear history of not having had measles, in which case an older child may be immunized.
It is also possible to give the vaccine against measles by intradermal injection with a special jet injector.