Dr. Ebraheim’s educational animated video describes measles.
Mealses which is also known as Rubeola is an extremely contagious viral infection caused by a Paramyxovirus. It usually occurs in children under the age of 5 years. The reservoir for this virus is the human respiratory tract. Therefore transmission occurs through inhalation of infected droplets produced by infected individuals by sneezing, coughing or even talking. Risk factors:
•Lack of vaccination
•Traveling to endemic areas
•Vitamin A deficiency
•Immunocompromised individuals.
The measles virus has an incubation period of 10-14 days during which the patient has no signs or symptoms. After the 14 days of the incubation period, the patient starts developing the following signs and symptoms:
•Fever
•Cough
•Coryza
•Conjunctivitis.
•Rash: red maculopapular rash appearing first on the face behind the ears and then spreads downwards towards the neck, trunk, arms, legs and feet.
•Koplik spits: tiny white spots appearing on the buccal mucosa are characteristic for measles.
A measles patient is infective for a total duration of 8 days. Infectivity starts 4 days before the appearance of the rash and stops around the fourth day of having the rash. The patient may appear to be well and still infect other people.
Diagnosis is usually achieved by thorough history taking and examination to identify disease specific features such as the unique rash pattern and the characteristic kolpik spots. Blood tests could be ordered to confirm the presence of measles IgM antibodies. Furthermore, respiratory specimens may be obtained to isolate the virus.
Complications:
•Otitis media
•Pneumonia
•Laryngotracheitis
•Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis
Vaccination is the most widely used method of prevention. Widespread vaccination leads to herd immunity that helps contain the disease and prevent outbreaks. When only a few individuals are vaccinated the disease may spread easily through the population. The measles vaccine is a live attenuated vaccine that is given to children as a part of the MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) vaccine. The vaccine is typically administrated by the age of 1 year followed by a booster dose at the age of 5. The vaccine helps the individual to develop lymphocytes and anti-bodies to attack and eliminate the virus on exposure.
Prevention: It is important to remember not to vaccinate immunocompromised individuals because this is a live attenuated virus.
Treatment:
•Fluids
•Fever reduction
•Vitamin A
•Antibiotics may be given in some cases to prevent superinfection.
•Controversy remains regarding the use of the measles vaccine.
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