People infected with measles have itchy, burning tiny red rashes which develop all over their body in about three days once the infection starts. This is also accompanied by high fever, sneezing, constant cough and irritability.

Measles can be prevented by immunizing your child with MMR vaccine (mumps, measles and rubella) and is now given at the beginning 12 or 15 months of the child, along with a booster dosage at 4 to 6 years or 10 to 12 of age.

Measles occurs worldwide. The virus is at the peak during the spring season in countries which have temperate climates. Measles spreads by direct contact with the infected droplets. It may be spread by droplets in the air which gets contaminated when the infected person sneezes or coughs.

Malnutrition in some of the third world countries is one of the major known causes to spread this epidemic. For example, the death rate in Mexico is 180 times than that of the US. Malnourished children have weakly developed immune systems and their response to the vaccination is also poor. The main problem with the vaccination is that the injection is given at the beginning of 12 months of the child and not before that as the younger infants have maternal antibodies and their presence yields poor response to the vaccine. On the other hand, unfortunately, the children contract this disease before 12 months.

The death rate caused by this disease has declined by 74 percent in a span of 7 years between 2000 and 2007. Hence, it is evident that international campaigns to spread measles vaccination globally are becoming more and more successful.

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