We keep hearing about all these measles outbreaks occurring around the United States. We haven’t seen an outbreak like this in many years, so many parents want to know what they can do to protect their children.
Here are some of the essential things you should know about measles.
The Measles Virus was Nearly Eradicated
I am going to skip the rant about parents who don’t vaccinate or doctors who don’t insist their patients get vaccinated. That is tired and worn out, and hopefully we are all in agreement there.
Do you know what the crazy thing is? Ever since I have been in practice, I don’t think I have seen a single confirmed case of the measles. That is a testament to the fact that vaccines work. In fact, we had completely eliminated measles from the US in the year 2000. That means there were no cases of measles reported within that entire 12-month period.
Now where are we? Last year there were 372 confirmed cases of measles. Just through April of this year (2019), there have been 555 confirmed cases. This is a large epidemic for a disease that was almost eradicated completely.
What should you do?
Vaccinate Your Children
We give the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine at 1 year of age, with a second booster at age 4. Please make sure your child is up to date with the vaccine.
What About Early Vaccination?
One important thing to realize is that we can give the MMR vaccine as early as 6 months, but that vaccine doesn’t count as 1 of the MMR vaccines you need.
Your child only needs an early vaccination if they are traveling overseas or are going to be in an area where there is an outbreak of the measles. I do not want to feed into the hysteria here. I want you to use common sense and talk with your pediatrician to determine if an early MMR would be right for you.
With that out of the way, let’s talk a little bit about the infection itself.
What is measles anyway?
Measles is a viral infection that shows symptoms 14 days after infection (after its incubation period). It starts with a fever, pink eye, cough, and congestion. Then, a few days later, there may be some red/white spots in the mouth. Following that, the rash presents on the head and works its way down the body to the neck, torso, arms and legs (in that order). When the body rash comes, the fever can get really high – as high as 104 or 105. Here are some pictures from the CDC website of patients with measles: https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/photos.html
How is it spread?
The measles virus lives in the mouth and nose, and is spread through coughing or sneezing. The virus can linger for up to 2 hours after someone coughs it out of their body. It is so contagious that 90% of people exposed to measles who were not vaccinated will become infected.
What is the big deal about measles if it is just a viral infection?
Many parents naturally think, “My kid gets over viruses all the time. Why is measles so special?” Here are a few things to keep in mind:
- 25% of measles patients get hospitalized.
- 10% get ear infections with measles that are associated with permanent hearing loss.
- 5% get pneumonia which is the leading cause of death in patients with measles.
- 0.1% develop an infection of the brain called encephalitis with permanent consequences like deafness, seizures, or intellectual disability.
- 0.1% of patients who get measles die from measles. The disease is worse in children less than 2 years of age.
- 0.01% of patients develop a complication YEARS after they recover from measles (seemingly complete recovery) called subacute sclerosing panencephalitis. This is a fatal condition.
I want you to realize how serious measles is and make sure your child is vaccinated. But, I also don’t want you to panic unnecessarily. It is still a small number of cases of measles that has been reported so far.
We just have to be very vigilant. Stay home if you are sick and stay away from sick people. Those are always good, common sense rules to live by.
And last, help spread the word and educate parents. Share this blog post with your friends and family.