Measles (Rubeola) (cont.)

The measles virus is highly contagious. Measles is spread through droplet transmission from the nose, throat, and mouth of someone who is infected with the virus. These droplets are sprayed out when the infected person coughs or sneezes. Among unimmunized people exposed to the virus, over 90% will contract the disease. The infected person is highly contagious for four days before the rash appears until four days after the rash appears. The measles virus can remain in the air (and still be able to cause disease) for up to two hours after an infected person has left a room.

Anyone who has had measles is believed to be immune for life. People who have received two doses of vaccine after their first birthday have a 98% likelihood of being immune. Infants receive some immunity from their mother. Unfortunately, this immunity is not complete, and infants are at increased risk for infection until they receive the vaccination at 12 to 15 months of age.

Those people at high risk for measles include

• children less than 1 year of age (although they have some immunity passed from their mother, it is not 100% effective);
• people who have not received the proper vaccination series;
• people who received immunoglobulin at the time of measles vaccination;
• people immunized from 1963 until 1967 with an older ineffective killed measles vaccine.

Measles can cause death. In 2008, approximately 164,000 people died of measles in the world. However, measles is rarely fatal in the United States. This is due to the fact that most people are immunized, which results in very infrequent outbreaks. Also, people most likely to have complications (including death) are those who are malnourished or who have weakened immune systems.

Source: MedicineNet.com
http://www.medicinenet.com/measles_rubeola/article.htm