Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://dailynews.habarileo.co.tz/analysis/index.php?id=6600
Smallpox causes blindness in children but measles sends them to their graves
Dr Ali Mzige
Daily News; Saturday,August 16, 2008 @20:02
My professor in 1983 told me, there was a common saying in the field of public health during the old good days when smallpox existed at the same time with measles. ?Count the number of children after measles is gone, smallpox will make your child blind, but measles will send him to his grave.? It was a clear message that measles was a serious and dreadful disease and it is still the same today.
The World Health Organisation declared smallpox extinct in 1980. It was eradicated by a successful world-wide vaccination campaign. However, it took 100 years to eradicate smallpox. I have no answer to how many years it will take to eradicate HIV/AIDS if a vaccine will be available.
The disease measles has many names in different communities, in our Kiswahili it is called 'surua', the Portuguese call it 'sarampo', the Wasukuma call it 'isela', the Wasambaa call it 'sada' and 'bundugwa', the people along the Coast call it 'galagala' or 'dude'. I suffered from measles when I was six years old. My great mum gave me tea, soup and porridge and was bathed in a mixture made from green sour leaves (mchunga) and was restricted to expose myself to the sunlight and kept in doors. That was me, but when my child contracted measles, the treatment was different from what my mother prescribed, I salute her for taking care of me and made me a medic.
Measles (rubeola, 9-day measles) is a highly contagious viral infection that produces various symptoms and a characteristic rash.
Children become infected with measles by breathing in small airborne droplets of moisture coughed out by an infected person or by touching items contaminated by such droplets. Measles is contagious from 2 to 4 days before the rash appears until the rash disappears.
Before vaccination became widely available, measles epidemics occurred every 2-3 years, particularly in preschool age (below the age of five) and school aged children, with small localized outbreaks during intervening years. Measles is still very common in our set up. We used to have wards in the late seventies and early eighties in different hospitals at consulting hospitals like Muhimbili, KCMC, Bugando, regional and district hospitals. The wards are now closed. Before we closed our wards, measles had changed trend and was affecting children beyond the age of five, some went between ten and fifteen years.
A woman who has had measles or has been vaccinated passes immunity (in the form of antibodies) to her child; this immunity lasts most of the first year of life. Thereafter, however, susceptibility to measles is high unless vaccination is given. A person who has had measles develops immunity and cannot contract it again.
Measles may also be serious and sometimes fatal, in children who are malnourished and those with impaired immunity (such as those infected with the virus that causes AIDS).
Symptoms and signs: The illness starts with fever, runny nose, sore eyes and cough and the sufferer is generally unwell. After three to four days a red rash in light skinned individual appears, usually starting on the head and neck and spreading downwards to cover the whole body. The spots sometimes join to produce large red blotchy areas and the lymph glands may be enlarged. After three days the rash starts to fade and symptoms subside.
The most common complications are ear infections with pus coming out (otitis media) and chest infections (pneumonia), which usually occur with a return of fever two to three days after the appearance of rash. Diarrhoea, vomiting and abdominal pain also occur.
Febrile convulsions are common with measles and usually are not serious, but other causes of convulsions like malaria and meningitis must be excluded.
A serious complication, occurring in about one in 1,000 cases, is encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) Encephalitis causes headache, drowsiness and vomiting, starting seven days to 10 days after the appearance of the rash. Seizures (degedege) and coma may follow sometimes leading to mental handicap (taahira ya akili) or even death.
Very rarely (in about one in a million cases) a progressive brain disorder, known as sub acute sclerosing panencephalitis, develops years after the acute illness.
Measles during pregnancy results in death of the foetus in about one fifth of cases. There is no evidence that measles causes birth defects.
Treatment: Once measles has occurred there is no specific cure for it. The treatment offered is on treating or managing the complications of measles like pneumonia, ear infections, diarrhoea and other disease as they arise. Fever in children with measles is treated by using paracetamol and not aspirin. Those who suffered from measles are given Vitamin A drops. There is need to make sure that these children are also given good nutrition, short of that malnutrition comes in. Lack of vitamin A in these children with measles may cause blindness.
Immunisation against measles is usually offered at the age of 9 months and produces immunity in about 85 per cent of cases. A booster should be given; in our set up the second dose of measles vaccine given during campaigns like the one just around the corner 30th August to 1st September 2008 should be seen as a golden opportunity to protect our children from measles.
Children from the age of 6 months to 10 years will be immunized against measles, those in Dar es Salaam will be from 6 months to 5 years.
The traditional healers who claim to have the expertise in treating measles should join forces with the government through the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to encourage children with the disease to be treated at nearby health facility. My plea to the traditional healer: Immediately after their consultations, it won?t do any harm to send the child to hospital. Injections are not contra-indicated in measles. The fear that the rash will go inside the body especially in the stomach has no scientific ground at all. Remember my mother giving me tea, porridge and soup was for nutrition rather than cure.
amzigetz@yahoo.com
Smallpox causes blindness in children but measles sends them to their graves
Dr Ali Mzige
Daily News; Saturday,August 16, 2008 @20:02
My professor in 1983 told me, there was a common saying in the field of public health during the old good days when smallpox existed at the same time with measles. ?Count the number of children after measles is gone, smallpox will make your child blind, but measles will send him to his grave.? It was a clear message that measles was a serious and dreadful disease and it is still the same today.
The World Health Organisation declared smallpox extinct in 1980. It was eradicated by a successful world-wide vaccination campaign. However, it took 100 years to eradicate smallpox. I have no answer to how many years it will take to eradicate HIV/AIDS if a vaccine will be available.
The disease measles has many names in different communities, in our Kiswahili it is called 'surua', the Portuguese call it 'sarampo', the Wasukuma call it 'isela', the Wasambaa call it 'sada' and 'bundugwa', the people along the Coast call it 'galagala' or 'dude'. I suffered from measles when I was six years old. My great mum gave me tea, soup and porridge and was bathed in a mixture made from green sour leaves (mchunga) and was restricted to expose myself to the sunlight and kept in doors. That was me, but when my child contracted measles, the treatment was different from what my mother prescribed, I salute her for taking care of me and made me a medic.
Measles (rubeola, 9-day measles) is a highly contagious viral infection that produces various symptoms and a characteristic rash.
Children become infected with measles by breathing in small airborne droplets of moisture coughed out by an infected person or by touching items contaminated by such droplets. Measles is contagious from 2 to 4 days before the rash appears until the rash disappears.
Before vaccination became widely available, measles epidemics occurred every 2-3 years, particularly in preschool age (below the age of five) and school aged children, with small localized outbreaks during intervening years. Measles is still very common in our set up. We used to have wards in the late seventies and early eighties in different hospitals at consulting hospitals like Muhimbili, KCMC, Bugando, regional and district hospitals. The wards are now closed. Before we closed our wards, measles had changed trend and was affecting children beyond the age of five, some went between ten and fifteen years.
A woman who has had measles or has been vaccinated passes immunity (in the form of antibodies) to her child; this immunity lasts most of the first year of life. Thereafter, however, susceptibility to measles is high unless vaccination is given. A person who has had measles develops immunity and cannot contract it again.
Measles may also be serious and sometimes fatal, in children who are malnourished and those with impaired immunity (such as those infected with the virus that causes AIDS).
Symptoms and signs: The illness starts with fever, runny nose, sore eyes and cough and the sufferer is generally unwell. After three to four days a red rash in light skinned individual appears, usually starting on the head and neck and spreading downwards to cover the whole body. The spots sometimes join to produce large red blotchy areas and the lymph glands may be enlarged. After three days the rash starts to fade and symptoms subside.
The most common complications are ear infections with pus coming out (otitis media) and chest infections (pneumonia), which usually occur with a return of fever two to three days after the appearance of rash. Diarrhoea, vomiting and abdominal pain also occur.
Febrile convulsions are common with measles and usually are not serious, but other causes of convulsions like malaria and meningitis must be excluded.
A serious complication, occurring in about one in 1,000 cases, is encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) Encephalitis causes headache, drowsiness and vomiting, starting seven days to 10 days after the appearance of the rash. Seizures (degedege) and coma may follow sometimes leading to mental handicap (taahira ya akili) or even death.
Very rarely (in about one in a million cases) a progressive brain disorder, known as sub acute sclerosing panencephalitis, develops years after the acute illness.
Measles during pregnancy results in death of the foetus in about one fifth of cases. There is no evidence that measles causes birth defects.
Treatment: Once measles has occurred there is no specific cure for it. The treatment offered is on treating or managing the complications of measles like pneumonia, ear infections, diarrhoea and other disease as they arise. Fever in children with measles is treated by using paracetamol and not aspirin. Those who suffered from measles are given Vitamin A drops. There is need to make sure that these children are also given good nutrition, short of that malnutrition comes in. Lack of vitamin A in these children with measles may cause blindness.
Immunisation against measles is usually offered at the age of 9 months and produces immunity in about 85 per cent of cases. A booster should be given; in our set up the second dose of measles vaccine given during campaigns like the one just around the corner 30th August to 1st September 2008 should be seen as a golden opportunity to protect our children from measles.
Children from the age of 6 months to 10 years will be immunized against measles, those in Dar es Salaam will be from 6 months to 5 years.
The traditional healers who claim to have the expertise in treating measles should join forces with the government through the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to encourage children with the disease to be treated at nearby health facility. My plea to the traditional healer: Immediately after their consultations, it won?t do any harm to send the child to hospital. Injections are not contra-indicated in measles. The fear that the rash will go inside the body especially in the stomach has no scientific ground at all. Remember my mother giving me tea, porridge and soup was for nutrition rather than cure.
amzigetz@yahoo.com