What it is:
The measles is an infectious disease that is also highly contagious caused by a virus. Measles is one of the most contagious diseases! If one person has measles, 9 out of every 10 people that person comes into contact with will get measles! Measles is now under control thanks to the measles vaccine but it used to be a serious problem. Measles epidemics would cause outbreaks every two to three years and cause 2.6 million deaths per year! Measles infections among children used to be very common.
Measles is very contagious and is spread through the air when infected people cough, sneeze, or talk. When they cough, sneeze, or talk, people put droplets of aerosolized liquid infected with the virus into the air. The virus floats in the air and non-infected people can breathe it and become infected. The virus can also survive for hours on surfaces so even after the infected person has left an area, virus on surface can infect people who touch those surfaces and then touch their eyes, nose, or mouth. The measles virus incubates and replicates in the nose and throat of people and will become full measles within 10 to 14 days. Four days before the rash appears and four days with rash, infected people can spread the virus to others.
The symptoms of measles include:
- the first sign is a high fever, usually 10 to 12 days after infection
- rash made of large, flat blotches
- dry cough
- runny nose
- sore throat
- tiny white spots inside the mouth
- mild pink eye
- Ear infections
- Diarrhea (watery poop)
- Pneumonia (lung infection)
- Bronchitis (another lung infection)
- Inflammation of the brain (encephalitis)
Disease Triangle:
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| Disease Triangle for Measles |
Pathogen:
Here are two pictures of the measles virus, also known as rubeola:
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| Public Domain Image |
Because the measles pathogen is a virus, therefore not a living thing, antibiotics do not destroy the virus. If antibiotics are prescribed to people infected with the measles it will be to kill other bacterial infections that are caused by the measles disease such as eye infections, ear infections, and pneumonia.
Treatment:
There is no treatment for the actual measles disease. What can be done is to care for the sick person until their body can develop antibodies to fight off the virus. Caring for people with measles includes making sure they get good, healthy food and that they stay hydrated all while resting.
Instead of treating the disease, the best course of action is to prevent children from ever getting the disease by getting the MMR vaccine. To keep children from getting measles from the rubeola virus, they should get all their measles vaccines. Vaccines put weakened viruses into your body so that your immune system can develop antibodies and antigens also with your immune memory cells so that if you do get the full rubeola virus, your body can tag it and destroy it before you get the measles disease!
Sources
Naim, Hussein Y. “Measles Virus.” Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics, NCBI, 5 Aug. 2014, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4514292/#:~:text=Measles%2C%20also%20known%20as%20morbilli,of%20morbidity%20and%20significant%20mortality.
Multiple Authors. “Measles (Rubeola).” Measles, CDC, Source: National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Division of Viral Diseases, 4 Oct. 2019, www.cdc.gov/measles/index.html.
Mayo Clinic Staff. “Measles Overivew.” Measles, Mayo Clinic, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/measles/symptoms-causes/syc-20374857.
WHO Staff. “Measles.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/measles.
Various. “Measles.” Vaccines.gov, HHS.gov, May 2020, www.vaccines.gov/diseases/measles.
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