It is mainly an infection of the respiratory airways caused by a very contagious virus. Measles can be so serious that it can cause death in very young children. It is estimated that about 30-40 million cases of measles occur annually around the world and about one million people die from measles every year.
Measles vaccine
The measles vaccine is very effective and prevents the emergence of measles, but many vaccination programs suffer from serious deficiencies in different parts of the world, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States of America reports a continuous increase in the number of cases New incidence of measles.
This is with the knowledge that measles spreads very quickly among people who did not get the vaccine against measles.
Measles vaccine
Measles symptoms
Measles symptoms include
fever.
dry cough
Catarrh and abundant mucous secretions from the nose.
conjunctivitis.
Excessive sensitivity to light.
The appearance of small white dots with a white center.
A skin rash consisting of large, red spots that sometimes overlap each other.
Eye irritation and redness.
Sore throat.
Measles disease often begins with the appearance of a mild to moderate fever accompanied by other symptoms such as: continuous cough, cold, irritation and redness in the eyes, and sore throat. After two or three days, Koplik’s spots begin to appear, which is the most obvious sign of measles.
After that, the body temperature rises more, until it sometimes reaches 40 or 40.5 degrees Celsius. In return, a rash of large red spots begins to appear, usually starting in the face area along the hairline and behind the ears.
Then the rash causes a slight itching that begins to descend down the chest and back area and eventually to the under the thigh and even the soles of the feet. After a week has passed, the sensitivity begins to disappear in the same way it came from.
Causes and risk factors for measles
The factor responsible for the emergence of measles is a virus, the measles virus is a very contagious virus so that if a person is infected with this virus, he will transmit measles to nearly 90% of those around him who are not vaccinated against the virus and will get measles.
This virus lives in the sinuses and in the mouth of a child or adult with measles, as a person with measles can transmit it to those around him from four days before the appearance of the rash until four days after it appears.
When a person infected with measles coughs, sneezes or speaks, small lets of saliva carrying the virus spread in the air, and so everyone in the same place can inhale them.
These virus-carrying lets can also fall on the surfaces of places surrounding the infected person, where the virus remains active and infectious for up to 4 hours. Thus, infection with the virus can occur by ing fingers into the mouth or nose after touching the surface contaminated with the virus.
When the virus enters the body, it begins to multiply in the cells of the mucous tissue in the throat and lungs, after which the virus spreads throughout the body, including the respiratory system and the skin.
Measles is very contagious. Any contact with a person carrying the virus can cause measles in people who are not vaccinated against the virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States of America confirms that the number of measles cases is constantly increasing, especially among people who are not vaccinated against the virus.
If someone has had measles in the past, their body produces antibodies in the immune system to fight off the infection, which means that they cannot get measles again.
Measles is more prevalent in developing countries, especially in communities that suffer from vitamin A deficiency due to malnutrition.
Complications of measles
Measles infection lasts from 10 to 14 days, and in certain regions of the world, measles is so severe that it may even be fatal. In developed countries, the situation is completely different, as people with measles suffer from severe disease, but they fully recover from it.
Complications of measles usually include
1. Inflammation of the ears
Measles causes ear infections in 1 in 10 children who get it.
2. Meningitis
Almost one in every thousand infected with measles may develop meningitis, a viral infection of the brain that causes vomiting, convulsions and, in rare cases, coma.
Meningitis may appear shortly after the onset of measles and may appear a few years later in adolescence as a result of a slow-acting viral infection. Meningitis that appears later, called Dawson''s encephalitis, is a very rare phenomenon.
3. Pneumonia
One in 15 people infected with measles will develop pneumonia, which can be fatal.
4. Diarrhea and vomiting
Complications like this are more common in children and infants.
5. Bronchitis, pharyngitis or diphtheria
Measles can lead to laryngitis, or inflammation of the mucous membrane on the inner sides of the main bronchi of the lungs.
6. Pregnancy disorders
Pregnant women should be very careful with everything related to measles and be very careful not to be exposed to the virus, because this may lead to miscarriage or to the birth of babies with low birth weight.
7. Low blood platelet count
Measles can lead to a decrease in the number of platelets, which are blood cells necessary for blood clotting.
Diagnosis of measles
The attending physician can diagnose measles according to the obvious symptoms that accompany measles, such as: rash, white dots with a white center inside the mouth on the inside of the cheek, which are also called Koplik''s Spots.
Sometimes a doctor may need to test a blood sample to confirm that the cause of the rash is indeed measles.
Measles treatment
There is no treatment that helps eliminate measles when the measles disease is in its active stage, but infants who are not vaccinated against the vaccine virus can be given approximately 72 hours after exposure to the virus in order to provide them with the necessary immunity against the virus.
Pregnant women, children and people with weakened immune systems who have been exposed to the measles virus can get injections of proteins that may help fight the virus. The vaccine is called an immunoglobulin-based serum. This injection is given over 6 days from the moment of exposure to the measles virus. These antibodies can help prevent measles or relieve symptoms associated with measles.
If measles is accompanied by a bacterial infection, such as pneumonia or ear infection, the attending physician may decide to treat with antibiotics. Children who have to be hospitalized as a result of measles will improve immediately after taking a vitamin A-rich medicine. .
Because measles is very contagious, isolation of the infected person can constitute an additional therapeutic measure in the face of measles, as the patient is isolated for a period of 4 days before the appearance of the rash until 4 days after its appearance, and it is preferable that people with measles not work near other people during this period temporal.
It is also preferable that the person with measles be kept away from the surrounding people, such as: brothers and sisters who are not vaccinated against the measles virus.
Measles prevention
Measles vaccination is given, in general, as a combination vaccine in a “triple vaccination” that also includes two vaccines against rubella and mumps.
This vaccine is made up of the most effective and safe combination of each of these vaccines. The vaccine is produced by taking the virus responsible for the emergence of measles from the throat of a person infected with measles and making it multiply in the cells of a chicken embryo in a laboratory.
When the recombinant measles virus is given to a child as part of the triple immunization, it multiplies causing a harmless infection even before the immune system tries to kill it. This harmless infection leads to lifelong immunity to the measles virus in 95% of children.
It is preferable to give a second dose of the vaccine a second time in order to vaccinate others who did not develop immunity in the first vaccination and to stimulate the immune system against measles in the remaining 95%.
Vaccination side effects
The overwhelming majority of those who get the measles vaccine do not experience any side effects, but symptoms include the following:
10% of people who get the vaccine usually have a fever for 5-12 days after receiving the vaccine.
About 5% develop a mild rash.
Less than one person in a million can have an allergic reaction to the vaccine.
In the past, it was believed that people with an allergy to eggs could not receive a vaccine that comes from a chicken embryo, such as the measles vaccination.
