Measles: Causes, Symptoms, Prevention, and Treatment

Measles is a severe, airborne, and highly contagious disease that leads to severe complications, such as rash, cough, red eyes, fever, and life-threatening symptoms like pneumonia, brain inflammation, and even death. This disease is caused by a virus. Measles Vaccine is the best and only way to prevent getting and spreading measles. According to an estimate, measles vaccination averted more than 50 million deaths since 2010. 

Even though an effective and safe vaccine is available, still there were an estimated 1205490 measles deaths worldwide, mostly among vaccinated or unvaccinated children under the age of 5 years. Worldwide analysis report have mentioned that the percentage of getting doses of measles vaccines is increasing every year, which is a good thing.

Overview

Measles is a highly contagious disease that can spread easily when an infected person breathes, sneezes, or coughs. It can lead to severe complications in adults and especially in children. 

Measles affects your respiratory tract adversely and then spreads throughout the body. Its major symptoms include a rash all over the body, a cough, a high fever, and a runny nose. Prevention of this disease is associated with vaccination. Vaccines help you to prevent its spread and prepare your body to fight off the causative virus. 

According to studies, measles vaccines were first introduced in 1963. At that time a large number of deaths occurred each year due to measles but after the discovery of its vaccination, the number of deaths decreased. Different healthcare institutes like the Rubella Partnership, WHO, and accelerated immunization departments of countries work together on a large scale to provide measles vaccines at every level. They succeeded in preventing an estimated 50 million deaths in the last 20 years.

Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 is a major cause leading to setbacks in immunization and surveillance efforts. The decline in immunization rates and suspension of immunization services around the world left millions of people, especially children vulnerable to preventable measles disease. This thing has increased the likelihood of outbreaks of measles and put all unvaccinated children at high risk of getting affected by measles.

However, regaining efforts have been started to achieve regional measles elimination targets, after getting rid of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many countries have started immunization programs to strengthen their primary healthcare services so that they may reach all children and vaccinate every person with the measles vaccine. The World Health Center has recommended that every country should implement robust immunization efforts to close immunity gaps.

Symptoms and Causes

Symptoms of Measles

The main symptoms of measles include:

• Barky cough.
• Vomiting, diarrhea, or stomach pain.
• High fever.
• Runny nose.
• Headache.
• Sore throat.
• Muscle pain.
• Tiredness.
• Rash.
• Red eyes.
• Red Spots with white centers in your mouth.

However, all the symptoms don’t appear at once. At first, a runny nose, a fever, and red eyes appear as primary symptoms. Red Spots with white centers appear two or three days after the primary symptoms and fade away when the rash begins. There is a gap of four to five days between the appearance of the rash and the primary initial symptoms. A high fever often occurs with a rash appearance.

What Do Measles Look Like?

Measles usually appears on lighter skin zines like flat areas of your face. These are red rash. But this rash may appear darker or purple on dark skin, which might be hard to observe. Then the rashes spread downward over the neck, back, chest, and arms. Legs and feet. The red spots get blended after their spread. Some areas of the body may raise bumps and some remain flat. It doesn’t itch, often.

Causes of Measles

The main causative agent for measles is identified as a virus (genus Morbillivirus). It is an airborne disease and can spread through the air, when an infected person has sneezed, coughed, or breathed. The droplets of sneezing or coughing remain in place even after the infected person is left. These droplets can land on the surfaces, when you touch and get infected. 

Measles can spread by:

• Touching the object or surfaces containing the virus and touching your eyes, nose, or mouth.
• Transmission of virus from a pregnant woman to the baby or fetus during breastfeeding, pregnancy, or delivery.
• Being with a measles-infected person., such as shaking hands, sharing food, kissing, or even talking with them can develop the symptoms in a healthy person.

How Would You Prove Measles is Contagious?

Measles can spread easily from person to person, which means it is a highly contagious disease. According to studies, a single, infected person can spread the measles virus throughout the room and the unvaccinated people in that room can catch it easily. You may become contagious four days before developing a rash and remain contagious four days after the rash begins to fade.

Risk Factors Associated with Measles

Measles brings you to the edge of a high risk of severe complications if you:

• Have a weakened immune system.
• Are you younger than five years or older than 25 years?
• Are pregnant.

Complications related to Measles

Measles is linked with a range of complications, from mild to life-threatening. Such as:

• Pneumonia.
• Ear infection.
• Brain infection or brain swelling.
• Dehydration.
• Bronchitis.
• Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis is a fatal infection that can harm your nervous system.
• Laryngitis.
• Blindness.
• Death.

In pregnant women, measles can lead to low-weight birth or premature birth of a baby, which can be fatal in some cases.

How Dangerous are Measles?

In the recent year, around 200 cases of measles were reported in the country. And less than 40% of cases are taken to hospital for intensive care. More than 15 million cases of measles were reported globally and around one hundred and ten thousand deaths, worldwide,  have been recorded due to measles in 2023. Most of the infected people were diagnosed as under-vaccinated or unvaccinated and the majority are under the age of 5. 

No doubt, this is a controlled rate of deaths because, before the discovery of measles vaccines, approximately 4 million people were subjected to death due to measles. 

Experts have confirmed that measles is a fatal disease. A well-known misconception that measles is just a mild illness that causes a rash that can be recovered easily, has affected the health of many people. This is incorrect because measles is not a benign illness, it is a serious disease that can harm your brain, and nervous system and even cause death. 

Its uncomplicated form can make your children miserable for a week with a high fever, i.e. 102 or 103 degrees Fahrenheit. Measles develops a brassy unrelenting cough in children that makes them so sensitive to light that it becomes necessary to keep them in dark places.

Diagnosis and Tests

How Measles Can be Diagnosed?

Your health history, the appearance of a rash, or a physical exam can help your healthcare provider to diagnose measles. Different tests are used to confirm the diagnosis. These tests include:

• Urine test.
• Blood tests.
• A swab from your throat or nose.

Management and Treatment

Treatment of Measles

No treatment or cure is available for measles. However, in a hospital, your healthcare provider may give you vitamin A so that they may help reduce the risk of developing serious complications. Measles, usually, lasts for 15 days if you don’t develop any complications. However, you can seek medical help from your doctor, if:

• You want to check your levels of measles antibodies to evaluate if you have developed immunity against measles.
• You want to ask certain questions about measles.
• You have been exposed to measles. This is a treatment option where they give you immunoglobulin antibodies to reduce the risk of getting severely sick.

You may require intense care from the hospital if you experience:

• Severe diarrhea or vomiting.
• Difficulty breathing.
• Severe headache.
• Chest pain.
• Confusion.
• Neck stiffness.
• Sensitivity to light.

Prevention of Measles

The most effective and the safest way to prevent measles is vaccination. Two doses are needed to get fully protected. These doses are:

1. Measles, mumps, rubella vaccine (MMR).
2. Measles, mumps, rubella, varicella vaccine (MMRV).

Most people get the two diseases in their childhood but you can get them in our adult age, if needed.

Having measles vaccination lowers or nearly eradicates the chances of developing measles symptoms but if you have received only one dose of vaccine, you may get sick due to measles because one dose is less effective at preventing illness. Receiving both shots will ensure that you will not get measles at any age.

Outlook for Measles

Measles can affect about 3 out of every 5 people and they may require hospitalization. Even after getting recovered from measles, you might be more likely to get infected by other infections because your immunity levels are low. Measles attacks your immune system and destroys the immune cells that are responsible for remembering past infections that develop immunity.

There are also chances to develop life-threatening complications months or years after having measles, especially if you have a weakened immune system (compromised immune system).

Precautionary Measures for Treating Measles at Home

You can safely manage the measles symptoms at home, with the help of your healthcare provider. Your healthcare provider may suggest you isolate for four days after the rash appears. You may be asked to wear an N 95 mask to protect the healthcare providers or anyone who’s helping care for you at home. Your healthcare provider might suggest you:

• Get plenty of rest.
• Gargle with salt water.
• Drink lots of fluids.
• Take NSAIDs and acetaminophen for aches, fever, or pain. 

When you feel better, ask your provider if you can return to your school or work or if it’s OK  to be around other people.

Who Should Get a Measles Vaccine?

2005 to 2010 is the era specified with the complete eradication of measles in the country. Vaccination helped to a great extent in lowering the number of measles cases. Experts in the Department of Health and Disease Prevention, recommended that all children should receive at least two doses of MMR vaccine before the age of 5. The first dose should be given at the age between 10 to 15 months and the second one between the age of 5 to 6 years.

In addition, studies have shown that most people who have received one dose of the measles vaccine or have presumed immunity may not need to get booster shots. However, some exceptions are still there in the form of people who travel intentionally or work in healthcare settings.

Moreover, some uncertain cases were also found. There is no confirmation if they had received the recommended two doses of measles vaccine or in the early 1960s they had received a less effective measles vaccine. If those people are living in or near communities experiencing measles, they should speak to their healthcare providers about receiving accurate doses of the measles vaccine. 

Professional doctors also recommend that adults should get boosted in the regions of outbreaks and that parents of primary school children who did not get the measles vaccine should take them for a vaccination series immediately. Experts strictly recommend that parents should be strongly urged to get their children vaccinated. 

Recent reports indicate a sudden drop in the measles vaccination rate in the country. This is a very concerning matter for the health department. This can open the doors for other outbreaks of measles to occur. It may turn back the clock to the old bad days. In addition, convincing parents is also not easy. Most parents don’t believe in vaccinating their children and they don’t change their mind. 

Thus the most effective way to get such parents to have faith again in vaccination is a slow and long process. But at every cost, it should be made sure by the authorities and health department services that everyone in the community gets vaccinated against measles at an early age.

Conclusion

Once, measles infected nearly everyone in the region but with the efforts of the health department and world health organizations, it is now controlled and eliminated in most regions of the world. However, in some areas of the world, outbreaks still happen and people die due to measles. This can be controlled only by getting vaccinated against measles. The communities, where people have stopped receiving measles vaccination, are at greater risk of developing measles outbreaks, once again. 

If you experience measles symptoms, talk to your healthcare provider, immediately. They may help you learn how to manage the symptoms of measles and ways to reduce your risk of severe illness. In addition, as your child grows, you need a complete course of vaccination for your child so that they may get protected against infections, such as measles.