Thursday, February 05, 2015
measles part 2
My family was touched by measles at another time.
When my son was 10 months old he contracted measles. How did I know? I knew because the symptoms were the same as with my sister who had atypical measles.
He had a runny nose, fever and a rash but it was confined to only his groin area and under his arms. He also had measles inside his mouth and in his hair.
I called his peditrician and explained to him that my son had measles. The doctor said at 10 months my son should have still be protected by "mother's immunity". That is it is thought that for the first year of their life a child has inherited enough of the mothers immunity to diseases to protect the child.
But to be on the safe side the Dr. told me to bring my son to his house, along with my daughter, to have him checked out and to protect any other children from exposure. My daughter, who was 4, had already been vaccinated.
So the Dr. had me undress my son and he checked him out. Then he left the room (he was in his pajamas by the way) and called upstairs to his daughter, who was in medical school at the time. It was early and I heard her protest being awakened at an ungodly hour of the morning. Well he told her "get down here, I want you to see what atypical measles looks like."
It seems my son had just enough of my immunity to restrict his exposure. He didn't have full blown measles, but he did have measles. Once his rash was gone he went back, after his first birthday, to the Dr. to have a measles shot, AND once the Dr. checked my daughter's records he noticed she had her immunization two weeks too early! To be fully effective the shot had to be given AFTER her first birthday, and she had her shot just before the actual birthday. So he vaccinated her too.
Luckily my son did not suffer the complications that my sister did. But also lucky for him I was an observant child who paid attention to the symptoms my sister had and could recognize them 20 plus years later in my own child.
Even though he had measles, the doctor wanted to make sure he would not be infected yet again.
I can't believe that people think it's their right to let their children suffer from a preventable disease. I hope their children forgive them. I can't.
When my son was 10 months old he contracted measles. How did I know? I knew because the symptoms were the same as with my sister who had atypical measles.
He had a runny nose, fever and a rash but it was confined to only his groin area and under his arms. He also had measles inside his mouth and in his hair.
I called his peditrician and explained to him that my son had measles. The doctor said at 10 months my son should have still be protected by "mother's immunity". That is it is thought that for the first year of their life a child has inherited enough of the mothers immunity to diseases to protect the child.
But to be on the safe side the Dr. told me to bring my son to his house, along with my daughter, to have him checked out and to protect any other children from exposure. My daughter, who was 4, had already been vaccinated.
So the Dr. had me undress my son and he checked him out. Then he left the room (he was in his pajamas by the way) and called upstairs to his daughter, who was in medical school at the time. It was early and I heard her protest being awakened at an ungodly hour of the morning. Well he told her "get down here, I want you to see what atypical measles looks like."
It seems my son had just enough of my immunity to restrict his exposure. He didn't have full blown measles, but he did have measles. Once his rash was gone he went back, after his first birthday, to the Dr. to have a measles shot, AND once the Dr. checked my daughter's records he noticed she had her immunization two weeks too early! To be fully effective the shot had to be given AFTER her first birthday, and she had her shot just before the actual birthday. So he vaccinated her too.
Luckily my son did not suffer the complications that my sister did. But also lucky for him I was an observant child who paid attention to the symptoms my sister had and could recognize them 20 plus years later in my own child.
Even though he had measles, the doctor wanted to make sure he would not be infected yet again.
I can't believe that people think it's their right to let their children suffer from a preventable disease. I hope their children forgive them. I can't.
