Page contents
- What is measles?
- symptoms
- Causes and risk factors
- Multiples
- Diagnosis
- treatment
- protection
It is primarily 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, and it is estimated that about 30-40 million cases of measles occur annually around the world and about one million Each year, people die from measles.
Measles Vaccine
The measles vaccine is very effective and prevents the emergence of measles, but many vaccination programs suffer from serious shortcomings in different parts of the world, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports a continuous rise in the number of cases of measles. New measles infection.
This is despite the fact that measles spreads very quickly among people who have not been vaccinated against measles.
Symptoms of measles
Symptoms of measles include:
- fever.
- dry cough;
- Cold and profuse mucus secretions from the nose.
- conjunctivitis.
- Excessive sensitivity to light.
- Small white dots with a white center appear.
- The appearance of a rash on the skin consisting of large red spots that sometimes overlap each other.
- Eye irritation and redness.
- Sore throat.
Measles often begins with the appearance of a simple to moderate fever accompanied by other symptoms such as: persistent cough, cold, itchy and red eyes, and sore throat. After two or three days, Koplik spots begin to appear, which is the most obvious sign of measles.
After that, the body temperature rises more, sometimes reaching 40 or 40.5 degrees Celsius, in contrast, 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 provokes a slight itch that begins to descend down the chest area and back and eventually to the under the thigh and even to the soles of the feet. After a week, the sensitivity begins to disappear in the same path that it came from.
Causes and risk factors for measles
The measles virus is a virus. The measles virus is so contagious that if someone is infected with this virus, they will transmit measles to approximately 90% of those around them who are not vaccinated against the virus and will develop measles.
This virus lives in the sinuses and 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 rash appears up to four days after it appears.
When a person with measles coughs, sneezes or talks, small droplets of virus-carrying saliva are released into the air, so that everyone in the same place can inhale them.
These virus-carrying droplets can also fall on the surfaces of places surrounding the infected person, where the virus remains active and contagious for up to 4 hours, and thus infection with the virus can occur by inserting 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 the infection, which means they cannot get measles again.
Measles is more prevalent in developing countries, especially in societies that are deficient in vitamin A due to malnutrition.
Complications of measles
Measles infection lasts from 10 to 14 days. In certain regions of the world, measles is so severe that it can be fatal. In developed countries, the situation is completely different, as people with measles are severely ill but recover completely.
Complications of measles usually include:
1. Ear infection
Measles causes ear infections in one in 10 children who get it.
2. Meningitis
Approximately one in every 1,000 people infected with measles may develop meningitis, an inflammation of the brain caused by a viral infection that causes vomiting, convulsions and convulsions and, in rare cases, may lead to coma.
Meningitis may appear shortly after the onset of measles and may appear a few years later in the teenage years as a result of a slow viral infection. Meningitis that develops 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 these are more common in children and infants.
5. Bronchitis, pharyngitis or diphtheria
Measles may cause laryngitis, or inflammation of the mucous membranes on the inner sides of the main bronchi in 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, as this may lead to miscarriage or the birth of low birth weight babies.
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 treating doctor can diagnose measles according to the obvious symptoms that accompany measles, such as a rash, white dots with a white center on the inside of the mouth on the inner side of the cheek, also called Koplik's spots.
Sometimes your doctor may need to check a sample of your blood to confirm that the rash is really measles.
Measles treatment
There is no treatment to eliminate measles when the measles disease is in its active stage, but unvaccinated infants can be given the vaccine about 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 compromised 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 a globulin-based immune serum. This injection is given over 6 days from the moment of exposure to the measles virus. These antibodies can help prevent measles or reduce symptoms associated with measles.
If the measles infection is also accompanied by a bacterial infection, such as pneumonia or an ear infection, the treating doctor may decide to treat with antibiotics. Children who have to stay in the hospital due to measles will get better as soon as they take a medicine rich in vitamin A. .
Because measles is very contagious, isolating the person infected with it can constitute an additional therapeutic measure in the face of measles, as the patient is isolated for a period extending from 4 days before the appearance of the rash to 4 days after its appearance, and it is preferable that people with measles not work near other people during this period timeline.
It is also preferable to keep the measles patient away from surrounding people such as: brothers and sisters who are not vaccinated against the measles virus.
Measles prevention
The measles vaccine is generally given as a combined vaccine in a “triple vaccination that also includes two vaccines against rubella and mumps.”
This vaccine is 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 the chicken fetus in the laboratory.
When a rejuvenated measles virus is given to a child as part of the DTP vaccination, it multiplies, causing a harmless infection even before the immune system tries to eliminate 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 were not immune in the first vaccination and to stimulate the immune system against measles in the other 95%.
Vaccination side effects
The vast majority of those who get the measles vaccine do not experience any side effects, but symptoms include:
- 10% of those who get the vaccine usually have a fever for 5-12 days after receiving the vaccine.
- Approximately 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 who are allergic to eggs cannot receive the vaccine that comes from the chicken embryo, such as the measles vaccination, but this belief has been proven incorrect, as people who are allergic to eggs can safely receive the measles and the triple vaccine.
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