MEASLES SYMPTOMS

Measles Symptoms Patients with early measle symptoms will feel generally unwell. They will often be misdiagnosed as suffering with a respiratory infection prio to the spots appearing. These early symptoms will tend to get worse once the rash appears and can continue for a long time after the rash disappears. These early symptoms of measles are usually missed as they give a false picture of respiratory infection. They tend to get worse with appearance of rash and some of them may persist for weeks. These early symptoms may include One of the most obvious is a high temperature (often over 100 degrees farenheight) Sore throat and runny nose often accompanied by a dry tickly cough The patient will often suffer from a headache and red eyes (conjunctivitis) accompanied by a strong dislike of lights Patients often complain of flu like symptoms such as aching joints in the hands,knees and wrists.  An examination of the lymph nodes in the neck will often show them as swollen or tender.

The most obvious sign that the person has measles is the rash which normally appears within three or four days following the symptoms above The rash will develop all over the body. It will start on the face and in and around the ears. It will then spread to the rest of the body within a few days To start with they will appear as small red bumps (about 2 millimetres across)) but join later appearing bigger. I can remember my mums words when I had measles as a child she said "you are pickled in spots" and that is quite a good description Whilst the spots may not itch they will often cause the patient to have a high fever. Occasionally up to 40 degrees F (over 100 degrees C)

IS MEASLES SERIOUS OR ARE WE JUST BECOMING PARANOID Whilst the majority of people who contract measles will recover in a small amount of people the virus can cause serious complications. This is why the importance of getting children immunised with the MMR vaccine cannot be stressed enough. Complications can occur such as: Getting infected during pregnancy can cause a high risk of a miscarriage and premature labour. Babies born when the mother has been suffering with measles are often smaller at birth as well.

Another very serious side effect which concerns pregant mums is congenital rubella. This is when the virus gets passed from a pregnant mum to the unborn baby. This is very serious as the unborn child can be born with heart defects, impairment to the hearing or cataracts. The child can even go on to suffer learning difficulties in later life.  You can see why we cannot therefore stress enough that your child needs the MMR triple injection. Thrombocytopenia -  this is a problem with a low platelet count. As these platelets are responsible for blood clotting this can cause various problems Pneumonia - whilst most people would not develop this approximately 1 in 15 patients will. Pneumonia is a serious problem Diarrhoea or vomiting are a complication whilst unpleasant is not so serious. Bronchitis, laryngitis: Inflammation of your larynx or the inner walls of the air passageways of your bronchial tubes. Ear Infections - not as serious but more common and will occur in 10% of children suffering with measles Encephalitis occurs in about 1 in a 1000 patients and is an inflammation of the brain. It can occur immediately after the measles infection or several years later.  We do not want to cause unnecessary alarm but I think you can see that whilst the majority of patients will suffer no serious ongoing side effects, there are a few quite serious ones which would once again support doctors enthousiasm for getting children immunised  (c) Askyabouthealth.com - 2008 - measles symptoms