Back to Melaka - Quarantined?

Stay at least 5 meters away from me!!

Measles are highly contagious and the virus spread in the air via the contaminated aerosol droplets produced by sneezing and coughing patients. In some cases that I read in BBC news, the disease remains contagious still within 4 meters from the patient. That's why I am home now. (The picture don't portray my actual situation which is very mild)

It started like this - on the 23 of July, my symptoms begin as a mild fever. I felt very cold in the lecture hall, and a bit of dizziness and sore throat. Sooner, my friends said that my face looked as red as an apple. My eyes looked red as well, like "pontianak". We thought that this was a normal fever, and the Chinese usually used to said "overheated". So I went to see the doctor in UTP after my lecture sessions. Yet, the early symptoms were too insufficient to give a clue that the doctor assumed my condition as a normal throat infection. We didn't think of measles at all, and I had never been concerned about it. Taking it likely as normal sore throat, still I hang out with friends to have our dinner at V4.

On the very next morning, my roommate Han Shen who had taken care of me for the whole night said that my face remained red and my temperature remains high even he kept putting a wet clothes on my forehead. Then I knew something MUST be wrong. When I was changing my shirt, to my surprise, I noticed thousands of red spots in my chest! And a lil of them on both of my arms. Worse came to worst, I had a bad flu and nasal infections. The symptoms were fully manifested. I knew it was measles, so I rush to the clinic again and this time the doctor had confirmed it. Then I recalled my brother's case around 10 days ago before I came to UTP. He got measles too, and probably I picked up the same virus from him. After the incubation period of 10 days, the disease finally shown up in me. I was given an MC for about a week to rest at home. I managed to get Gabriel, my kind senior's help to send me to the bus terminal.

Potential Epidermic?

I reached home when twilight fell. Then I online to read more about measles. Only I did realize that measles is highly contagious and in some cases, fatalities! (1 out of 1000) However the good news is, in Malaysia standard of living is moderately high so there is no reason to be worry. Moreover we were all vaccinated against the really dangerous strain of measles virus. (FYI, there is many strains of the virus, not all are deadly) Anyway deep in my heart I am praying that none in UTP would pick up the disease. Otherwise, UTP might come to a standstill, just like
the Japanese Measles Epidemic and imagine this - I am the culprit that all the fingers would point!!! The result would be shown in 10 more days...

Lets Know More!









Measles is a very infectious viral disease spread by droplets of saliva.It is a serious condition that used to carry a high mortality rate, mainly the under threes. Measles is caused by the Morbillivirus.

Symptoms
-incubation period of 9-14 days
-fever
-conjunctivitis
-Koplik's spots in the mouth which resembles grains of salt
-runny nose
-cough
-rashes that spread throughout the body starting from the head
-rashes may join to form blotches
-painful joints
-rashes may itch

Complications
Measles is a serious disease. It may lead to vision impair or blindness as a result from eye ulceration. Up to certain extends it could be fatal. However rate of fatality can be relatively rare with a proper treatment. The commonest cause of death is pneumonia. The most serious complication it could bring is encephalitis or brain infection. 1 in 1000 patients with measles will develop this problem, 10-15% of those who do will die, and about another 25% will be left with permanent brain damage, which would result in coma, convulsions, paralysis and are intellectually impaired.

Treatment
Since it is a viral disease, there is no cure for it so far. However treatments are aim to relieve the symptoms and complications. Sufficient rest is vital for your body to fight against the virus. Take a lot of water to prevent dehydration from fever. Supportive measures such as Caramine lotion and paracetamol will ease the discomforts. In cases of bacterial infection such as pneumonia, antibiotics are prescribed.

Prevention
The only way of prevention is through immunization. An MMR injection (measles mumps rubella) , could easily render us invulnerable to the disease. Usually the injection is given to a 15 months old baby.

Reference:
-Encyclopedia of First Aid and Family Heath
-Wikipedia
-Free Medicine Dictionary