MEASLES IN CHILDREN: SYMPTOMS, TREATMENT AND VACCINE

Measles is a childhood infectious disease, once very common, now easily preventable thanks to routine childhood vaccinations.It is a highly contagious "respiratory infection caused by a virus that causes a skin rash (extensive rash) all over the body and flu-like symptoms, including fever, cough and cold.

Symptoms

The first symptoms of measles are: dry cough, runny nose, high fever, red eyes and sensitivity to light. The skin rash, in fact, begins after about two days the onset of fever.

Another initial symptom of this type of infection is Koplik's spots, small red spots with a blue-white center that appear inside the mouth.

The rash, the classic rash of measles, consists of red or reddish brown spots that appear about two days after the onset of fever and flu-like symptoms: first on the forehead, shortly after on the lower part of the face, then on the neck (2nd day) and finally on the whole body (3rd day).

Incubation period and duration of the disease

Measles has an incubation period of about 10 days, following which fever appears.

In the first 2-3 days, the fever is quite high, it can reach 40 °. The fever can usually last up to 7-8 days. From the third / fourth day, the rash appears, which generally lasts from 4 to 7 days.
Around the sixth-eighth day the spots begin to disappear.
After about ten days the baby can be said to be completely healed.

Infection

As we said, the incubation period is 10 days. A person with measles is contagious from 1 to 2 days before symptoms appear, up to 4 days after the rash (which usually occurs on the 3rd-4th day after the very first flu symptoms appear).

The transmission of the virus, practically certain if you live in direct contact with the patient and are not vaccinated, occurs through tiny droplets of saliva expelled after a sneeze, a cough or through the nasal mucus.

To prevent measles, however, it is sufficient to subject the child to the vaccinations provided during childhood by the regular medical protocol.

Treatment

Like any type of infectious disease, once contracted, one can only wait for it to run its course. In fact, there is no specific medical treatment to follow in these cases, if not the accompanying medicines and antibiotics that treat the pathologies caused by the same infection, such as fever, cough and cold.

Remember in these cases to make the child drink plenty of water and to let him rest as much as possible.

Vaccine

In general, babies are protected from measles up to 6 months after birth, because immunity is transmitted to them directly from the mother.

The measles vaccine in children is given in two stages:

from 12 to 15 months
from 4 to 6 years

and is part of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination or the measles-mumps-rubella-varicella (MMRV) vaccination.

Measles vaccination guarantees "98-99% efficacy and" lifelong immunity.

It is not given to infants under 12 months of age, unless there is an outbreak of measles; in this case, this extraordinary vaccination will be followed by the two boosters provided for by the protocol, that of 12-15 months and that of 4-6 years.

Measles vaccine should not be given to pregnant women, children with tuberculosis, leukemia or other untreated cancers, and to people with compromised immune systems for any reason.

See also:
Chickenpox: symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of one of the most common diseases among children
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The joys of motherhood: 20 things all mothers do!
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