How to Treat and Prevent Measles Infection

Measles is a contagious infectious disease. Despite the availability of safe and effective vaccines 530,000 children ages 15 and younger died of measles in 2003. This article will walk you through steps to control the spread of this disease and treatment modalities for the virus that causes it. Read on to learn how to treat and prevent measles infection.

Instructions

Preliminary Steps

• 1

  Diagnose the disease accurately. Make sure that you are dealing with actual measles infection and not a look-alike viral infection.

• 2

  Promptly administer vaccine to all susceptible persons if there is an outbreak of measles infection. However, people with date of birth before 1957, laboratory evidence of immunity to measles virus, documentation of prior adequate vaccination from a physician or health care facility do not need to be vaccinated.

• 3

  Keep away all those people from the outbreak setting for at least three weeks after the onset of rash in the last measles case if they refuse to vaccinate on the religious or medical grounds. Quarantine measures are not recommended in an outbreak control.

• 4

  Immunoglobulin administration should be preferred for infants exposed to measles within the household. Infants exposed to measles aged six to 11 months can also receive live measles vaccine, but they must be re-immunized at age 12 to 15 months and again before school entry since they are at higher risk for acquiring the infection.

Treatment

• 5

  Treat the infection supportively. There is no specific therapy of proven benefit. Supportive therapy includes fluids, antipyretics, and treatment of secondary bacterial infections such as pneumonia, ear infections and brain infections.

• 6

  Give Vitamin A. The World Health Organization and UNICEF recommend that vitamin A (100,000 to 200,000 IU orally) should be given to all children with measles in areas where vitamin A deficiency is prevalent or where the mortality from measles exceeds one percent.

• 7

  Consider anti-viral medication, Ribavirin. While there have been no randomized controlled trials to assess its benefit some clinicians will still use it. It can be administered via injectable as well as aerosolized route (inhalation).