Podcast #443: Measles - a timely revisit

Author: Sue Chilton, MD

Educational Pearls:

• Measles is highly contagious
• Typically patients just look sick
• Remember 4 & 4, 14, and 4-C's:
• • Contagious 4 days before and after onset of rash
  • 14 days for rash to appear
  • Cough, coryza, conjunctivitis (non-purulent), and Koplik's spots
• Under 2 and over 20 are highest risk groups
• 1 in 1000 will die
• Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis is one of the most feared, degenerative, 100% fatal complications that can occur up to two decades after initial infection

Editor's Note: Don't be pro-plague - if you can, vaccinate your children.

References:

https://www.denverpost.com/2019/01/16/denver-measles-exposure/

Moss WJ. Measles. Lancet. 2017 Dec 2;390(10111):2490-2502. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)31463-0. Epub 2017 Jun 30. Review. PubMed PMID: 28673424.

Bester JC. Measles and Measles Vaccination: A Review. JAMA Pediatr. 2016 Dec 1;170(12):1209-1215. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2016.1787. Review. PubMed PMID: 27695849.

Summarized and edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD