Measles (Rubeola)

Measles - or rubeolaroobēˈələ, highly contagious disease of young children, caused by a filterable virus and spread by droplet spray from the nose, mouth, and throat of individuals in the infective stage. This period begins 2 to 4 days before the appearance of the rash and lasts from 2 to 5 days thereafter. The first symptoms of measles, after an incubation period of 7 to 14 days, are fever, nasal discharge, and redness of the eyes. Characteristic white spots appear in the mouth, followed by a rash on the face that spreads to the rest of the body. The symptoms disappear in 4 to 7 days. One attack of measles confers lifelong immunity. However, it renders the patient susceptible to other more serious infections such as bronchial pneumonia and encephalitis. The measles virus has also been associated with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), which causes chronic brain disease in children and adolescents. After the attack of measles, it can cause intellectual deterioration, convulsive seizures, and motor abnormalities and is usually fatal. Common measles in pregnant women can be a threat to the unborn child, and vaccination of women well before pregnancy is recommended (see also rubella, or German measles).

Immunization by injection of live measles-virus vaccine, first marketed in 1963, has proven effective. Given at first with gamma globulin, the vaccine was further developed by 1965 so that one shot alone gives long-term, probably lifetime, immunity; a nationwide program was established in the United States for the vaccination of all children over the age of nine months.

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