Is your young one experiencing small red dots on the surface of his/her skin, irritated eyes, especially from exposure to light, coughing, and a runny nose?
Your loved one may have measles. Measles, also known as rubeola, is an acute and highly contagious, fever-producing disease caused by a virus, very different from the one that causes German measles.
The fever, sneezing, and runny nose appears after 12 days of the first exposure. Coughing and swelling of the neck glands follow. Red spots appear on the face or neck and then on trunk and limbs within four days. Two or three days after the rash appear, it subsides and the fever reduces. In some cases infections of the middle ear were found.
Measles was formerly one of the most common childhood diseases, however, since the development of an effective vaccine in 1963, it has become less frequent.
By 1988, the United States seen a great reduction to fewer than 3500 cases per year compared to 500,000 per year in the 1960s. New cases of measles jumped to more than 18,000 in 1989 and to nearly 28,000 in 1990. Most of these cases occurred among inner-city preschool children and recent immigrants. Adolescents and young adults, who have lost immunity to the virus, were among the new carriers of the virus.
Moreover, measles are rarely fatal in the United States, but should the virus spread to the brain, it could cause brain damage or even death.
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