Kids' health - common conditions: Measles

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Measles

What is it? An infection that causes a rash and a nasty illness

What are the symptoms? Typical things to watch out for are:
- Fever and sore eyes
- White spots in the mouth
- Blotchy rash on the body
- Diarrhoea

What should I do? Just ease the symptoms, because no medicine cures the virus. Your child will naturally produce antibodies to fight the infection. Make sure you reduce any fever with paracetamol or ibuprofen liquid and give your child plenty of water to drink.

How long will it last? Most children are better within 7-10 days of getting measles - if it doesn't go away after this time, go and see your doctor.

When will they get it? Measles is normally a childhood condition, although the MMR jab has made it less common. However, there has been an increase in outbreaks recently, possibly because some parents have chosen not to vaccinate their children.

What if my child doesn't get it? Assuming they've had a jab, it's not a problem, even though it's not 100% effective. It is very infectious, though, so if an adult has not been vaccinated, they need to be careful.

- Find out more about measles in children