Measles

[redcrx]

Is it possible to contract measles even if youve been immunised?
My son has got what looks like measles but GP seemed to imply that as hes had the MMR vaccination that he cant contract measles.
Is this right? I was diagnosed with measles at the age of 10 and yet I was immunised as a baby.
GP has said its fifth disease as my son is still fairly happy in himself (I can see hes not as active or happy as usual)

[PinkFizz]

Well I would say yes.My son had the immunisation and then a year later he woke up with 7 or 8 sopts.Doctor said it was mild measles - he was fine in himself.Then last year exactly the same thing happened - he got 9 or 10 spots and no more!

[PinkFizz]

*spots!

[redcrx]

my son had his MMR 5 weeks ago but he is covered in spots, theyve all come up today.
Believe it or not, when i turned up at GPs the receptionist asked us to wait in reception, even though i had stated it was measle-like rash. I waited outside until GP was available.

[PinkFizz]

Typical! No I would say that he has got a mild form of measles,even though I'm no doctor.with my son he woke up looking as though it was going to develop into full blown measles but it never did.

[China Doll]

I believe that I had the measles jab when I was a kid and I'm pretty sure I still got it.

[redcrx]

what Im gonna do is take all the precautions and keep him at home until spots have gone and if any change at all i shall be straight back down the GPs.
Have you ever had experience of slapped cheek syndrome Pink?

[PinkFizz]

Yes my daughter had it when she was about 4 years old.Apparently it is something to do with the measles strain,but as soon as the red cheeks appear the child is not infectious - only the days beforehand.Again with the spots - I believe that they are contageous until the spots appear and are dry - then they can'y pass it on.

[4getmenot]

He's not as happy as usual because he knows he's not visiting Aunty 4getmenot this week :-(

[spudqueen]

My eldest son had measles a couple of weeks after being given the MMR, and my youngest son had mumps a couple of years ago, years after had his MMR. When I took the youngest son to the doctors and she diagnosed his mumps I explained that he'd had the MMR but she said that it wasn't effective in 100 per cent of cases.

[redcrx]

4getmenot, you could always visit him lol. His aunty J9 was going to but she found out he had a rash and decided against it lol

[redcrx]

thanks spudqueen. I doubt its a reaction to the MMR as that occurs after 7-10 days if at all.
Its nice to know (just hoping it isnt) that measles can occur after the jabs

[PinkFizz]

Well I hope that baby redcrx get better real soon and I am sending him a big cyber hug! (((((( XX )))))))

[4getmenot]

Well was thinking of suprising you tomorrow but dont think its best because of all the other children I go and visit it wouldnt be fair. :-(

[redcrx]

its ok 4getmenot, I wouldnt expect you to visit whilst hes poorly. to be honest i may just spend the eve sleeping anyway :)

Thank you pink, I told him you were sending a hug and he thought it very nice, judging by his smile. x

[Hans_Olo]

Yes it is. MMR is not 100% effective - about 90-95% for measles part of it. The reason for the pre school booster is immunity drops after the 13 month primary vaccination. Any infectious disease can be stopped by vaccinating a certain proportion of the population, if the rate of MMr vccination drops below 80% then an outbreak is likely - ie not everyone has to be immune or vaccinated - this is herd immunity - really just stopping it from being passsed on. Many viral illnesses can give measles type rashes. The old style measles vaccine was different and wasn't as effective - if you are in your 30's as I am then this is what you would have had and may have got measles anyway. 5th disease is different it does give you a morbilliform ie measles-like rash but also bright red cheeks! Measles in people immunised with the mmr is probably a milder illness and doesn't have the complications or problems that measles does probably as there is partial immunity to the measles virus.

[redcrx]

Thank you Hans_olo for the info.
The reason Im concerned that my GP got it wrong was that
a) My son had exact same symptoms of measles, I know fifths is similar but he was squinting from light for a few hours. I cant see that is a symptom of fifths.
b) my sons rash was never on his cheeks except for a few little spots about 3 hours after the first sign of rash, which was blotchy and behind his ears and around his neck.

Luckily my son now seems to be recovering, we had a full nights sleep for first time since Thursday last night and in fact hes still asleep now.

I know that if you get measles after vaccination that its milder but i was just concerned that this GP acted as if it was impossible to get measles and so it could only be fifths.

My son has had viral rashes before with cold symptoms but they were nothing like this, and 4 days of high fever before the rash appeared were like nothing he'd ever had before. 102-105.4 for 4 days with no let up

And yes, I am in my 30s, thanks for the info on the older vaccinations

[carpediem06]

yes, bacause i actually caught all the diseases (apart from mumps) that i was vaccinated against, too. Not sure of this is correct, but apparently it was because of a faulty batch of vaccines. perhaps this is the case with your son?

[Hans_Olo]

A lot of viral illnesses can begin with temperature before the onset of anything specific. Sometimes having a fever can produce symptoms of headache/nausea & vomiting/photophobia - ie squinting with the light so it may simply reflect the temperature rather than the illness - but fifth disease - it is called this as it is one of the 5 viral exanthems(rashes) of childhood does have bright red cheeks and the child is usually well with the rash. I doubt there are many people that have seen measles in this country as it is a rare illness - I'm a GP and I've never seen it neither has my colleague and he is 10years older than me! I doubt most of us would recognize it except from the textbook description of it which is always the worst case scenario. I doubt milder cases have the same complications - in which case it behaves like a cold rather than give the nasty problems it can do. As the problems with measles are its complications rather than the acute illness then Although it would be nice to know it is not practical at present to know what is the cause when the treatment is the same - ie keep the temperature down and await recovery. it's a different kettle of fish if you cant keep the temp down though! As I tink milder cases don't suffer the complications then measles or not it wont cause any problems - I do wonder though if as a GP we should just admit we don't know rather than saying it isn't or is something!

[redcrx]

thank you Hans_olo

My son is much better today, his spots have gone and he has his voice back to almost normal.

Hes still off his food but the improvement is enourmous and i thank you for taking the time to explain things so well to me, it is appreciated.