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Measles: Symptoms and Rash Overview

Measles is an acute viral respiratory illness characterized by fever, malaise, cough, runny nose, and conjunctivitis followed by a rash that starts on the head and spreads downwards. Patients are contagious from 4 days before to 4 days after the rash appears. Measles virus is a single-stranded RNA virus classified as a member of the Morbillivirus genus. Before the measles vaccine in 1963, the U.S. reported around 500,000 cases and 500 deaths annually, though it is estimated millions were actually infected with many cases going unreported.

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62 views1 page

Measles: Symptoms and Rash Overview

Measles is an acute viral respiratory illness characterized by fever, malaise, cough, runny nose, and conjunctivitis followed by a rash that starts on the head and spreads downwards. Patients are contagious from 4 days before to 4 days after the rash appears. Measles virus is a single-stranded RNA virus classified as a member of the Morbillivirus genus. Before the measles vaccine in 1963, the U.S. reported around 500,000 cases and 500 deaths annually, though it is estimated millions were actually infected with many cases going unreported.

Uploaded by

elle seigden
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Measles is an acute viral respiratory illness.

It is characterized by a prodrome of
fever (as high as 105°F) and malaise, cough, coryza, and conjunctivitis -the three
“C”s -, a pathognomonic enanthema (Koplik spots) followed by a maculopapular
rashexternal icon. The rash usually appears about 14 days after a person is
exposed. The rash spreads from the head to the trunk to the lower extremities.
Patients are considered to be contagious from 4 days before to 4 days after the
rash appears. Of note, sometimes immunocompromised patients do not develop
the rash.

The virus
Measles is caused by a single-stranded, enveloped RNA virus with 1 serotype. It is
classified as a member of the genus Morbillivirus in the Paramyxoviridae family.
Humans are the only natural hosts of measles virus.

Background
In the decade before the live measles vaccine was licensed in 1963, an average of
549,000 measles cases and 495 measles deaths were reported annually in the
United States. However, it is likely that, on average, 3 to 4 million people were
infected with measles annually; most cases were not reported. Of the reported
cases, approximately 48,000 people were hospitalized from measles and 1,000
people developed chronic disability from acute encephalitis caused by measles
annually.

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