Topical Guide 616
Mark Dorset
Disease and Illness: Childhood Diseases: Measles
Where Do You Stop? Chapter 22:
“[…] How come I never saw a burst of energy like that when you were supposed to be helping us clear the hill from the back yard?” […]
“[…] I guess I was still getting over the measles.”
“The measles?”
“I had the measles, didn’t I?”
“You had the measles after we gave up on the hill.”
“That’s true, Peter,” said my mother.
“Amazing how long the onset is,” I said.
“Never mind,” said my father.
“But isn’t it astonishing that I should have been so weakened by the measles long before the symptoms even showed?”
“Forget it, Peter,” said my father.
“Of course, I guess you could say that the weakness actually was the first symptom—”
“I said forget it,” said my father.
I did. It was wise not to push these things too far.
Paul Gastanaduy, MD; Penina Haber, MPH; Paul A. Rota, PhD; and Manisha Patel, MD, MS, “Measles,” Centers for Disease Control
Measles is an acute, viral, infectious disease. References to measles can be found from as early as the 7th century. The disease was described by the Persian physician Rhazes in the 10th century as “more to be dreaded than smallpox.”
In 1846, Peter Panum described the incubation period of measles and lifelong immunity after recovery from the disease. John Enders and Thomas Chalmers Peebles isolated the virus in human and monkey kidney tissue culture in 1954. The first live, attenuated vaccine (Edmonston B strain) was licensed for use in the United States in 1963. In 1971, a combined measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine was licensed for use in the United States. In 2005, a combination measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella (MMRV) vaccine was licensed.
Before a vaccine was available, infection with measles virus was nearly universal during childhood, and more than 90% of persons were immune due to past infection by age 15 years. Measles is still a common and often fatal disease in developing countries. The World Health Organization estimates there were 142,300 deaths from measles globally in 2018. In the United States, there have been recent outbreaks; the largest occurring in 2019 primarily among people who were not vaccinated.
See also:
Disease and Illness: Childhood Diseases: Chicken Pox TG 115
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