Our daughter, who is 2.5 yrs old had her MMR shot at 15 months, as is recommended.
For 4 days now, she’s been irritable, feverish (lowgrade), had a sore throat and cough. We thought it was just the viral thing going around. Last night I noticed a rash on her neck and chest, which I thought was due to a new detergent or soap.
Today, we took her to the doctor and he says she has measles and recommended we keep a close eye on her for high fever, in the rare case of encephilitis.
Is it common for children to get a (mild?) case of measles this long after they’ve had the MMR shot? Is it likely that the shot she had was from a dud batch? What should we do about it?
From what I’ve read, it usually lasts 6 days from when the rash first starts on the top of the body and travels all the way down to the feet. Is there anything we can do to make her more comfortable? The doctor (who we don’t know very well; we just moved here*) says to give her ibuprofen or paracetemol for fever (she has a fever of 38.6C) and keep an eye on her. He did give us a script for antibiotics, in case we think it’s gotten into her ears, but I’d rather go and have him look first before we give her antibiotics.
I’m guessing she got it from the playgroup we attended several weeks ago, as many parents choose not to give MMR, because they suspect it is linked with autism.
No vaccine is 100% effective. As you probably saw on that cdc page, they report fewer than 1,000 measles cases per year since immunization started, but that’s larger than zero. It’s possible that your child got a bad vaccine, or she might have got a good batch and got the disease anyway.
Serious complications are rare but possible. All I can say is just follow your doctor’s instructions.
My brother got measels even after an MMR shot when he was 3. None of the doctors at the hospital knew what it was at first, as none had ever seen it in person.
To the best of my knowledge, there were no complications, and he’s a-okay.
We never got an explanation about how/why this could have happened, but apparently he got through it with little fanfare and was back to normal in short order.
Thanks, Smeghead, for the reassurance. Leave it to her to get the bad batch or whatever.
She’s such a non-conformist!
Actually, this explains why she’s been so irritable and clingy. At least I know why she was behaving in such a way that I wanted to tear my hair out and run away from home.
The prospect of this possibly being over this time next week is a pretty attractive one!
As has been pointed out, immunisation and even having previously had measles (or mumps, chicken pox etc) is no guarantee that you are forever immune. I contracted chicken-pox at age 14 (a ‘severe’ dose) and then again when I was 21 (yet another bad case with blisters all over).
So while it is unusual, it is certainly not unheard of.
Yikes. I just called the Health Board, after reading irishgirl’s comment about the measles outbreak in Galway (March/April of 2002).
It seems that suspected measles is a mandatory reporting disease, which means that our GP could be in a bit of trouble for not taking a blood sample and sending it to be tested. Since we weren’t particularly impressed with him anyway, we’ll take her to a doctor tomorrow morning to check her again and take a blood sample. The nurse at the Health Board said it could be measles OR a strepptoccocal infection that is causing the rash. The worrying thing is now, in hindsight, I see she has all the other classic symptoms: irritability, light sensitivity, red-rimmed eyes, and fever. Gah!
If she does have it, we’ll have to contact the two play groups she attends weekly to inform all of them. I feel really annoyed that we bothered to get the immunization and she still got it. Apparently, in order for immunization of MMR to be successful, 95% of target aged children must be innoculated. In last year’s measles epidemic, only 75% were innoculated, and that’s what caused the widespread outbreak. The nurse mentioned that we should go FIRST THING and have the doctor do a blood test and a throat swab (in case it’s strep) to rule out measles or confirm them. They will have to put a rush on the blood test as it’s a matter of public health. How scary!!
Having said that, I recognize that measles is only very rarely life-threatening, but even the nurse on the phone said that if it goes into her ears, it can cause deafness (as can the very high fevers, sometimes as high at 105F). I’m just so worried and hub isn’t at home so you guys will have to bear with me. It’s going to be a long night.
It might interest you to know that there are thought to be three forms of measles. Typical measles occurs in unimmunized individuals (infants to young adults) who acquire the disease through respiratory infection, present with prodromal high fever, profuse nasal discharge (coryza), conjunctivitis and (Koplik) spots on the inner cheek. A dusky red rash forms 1-2 days later behind the ears and scalp line. The rash covers the entire torso for up to 7 days, changing from flat to raised dots. Modified measles occurs in partially immune hosts and has less severe prodrome, rash, and encephalitis complications. Atypical measles occurs in those who used the old kiled virus vaccine abandoned in 1967. MMR is recommended for HIV patients but not those allergic to egg.
Encephalitis is often treatable, and the death rate from SSPE is much, much lower than 2 in 1000 as suggested by a previous post. This is the chance of getting bronchopneumonia or encephalitis, neither of which is usually fatal. Epidemiologically, the risk benefit ratio is far, far on the side of getting the vaccine. And people who get measles after the vaccine would seem to get milder forms of measles, too. (Infectious Disease Secrets, Robert Gates MD, 2000; Canadian Immunization Guide, 6th edition).
