measles

Also known as morbilli, measles, rubeola, measles virus infectious disease, Rubeola, Rubeola Infection, Measles virus infectious disease, obsolete Measles virus infectious disease

Measles (probably from Middle Dutch or Middle High German masel(e), meaning "blemish, blood blister") is a highly contagious, vaccine-preventable infectious disease caused by measles virus. Other names include morbilli, rubeola, 9-day measles, red measles, and English measles.

AI overview

Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by a virus that can be prevented through vaccination. It matters because of how easily it spreads between people and the serious health risks it poses, which is why vaccination programs have been developed to protect against it.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Key facts

Medical condition.name: Measles
Medical condition.image: RougeoleDP.jpg
Medical condition.caption: A child showing a day-four measles rash
Medical condition.field: Infectious disease
Medical condition.synonyms: Morbilli, rubeola, red measles, English measles
Medical condition.symptoms: Fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes, rash
Medical condition.complications: Pneumonia, seizures, encephalitis, subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, immunosuppression, hearing loss, blindness
Medical condition.onset: 10–12 days after exposure
Medical condition.duration: 7–10 days (not including complications)
Medical condition.causes: Measles virus
Medical condition.prevention: Measles vaccine
Medical condition.treatment: Supportive care
Medical condition.frequency: 10 million per year
Medical condition.deaths: 140,000+ (2018)

via Wikipedia infobox

Research

34,522 papers

Measles.ReviewLancet (London, England) · 2017Moss WJDOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)31463-0
What's going on with measles?ReviewJournal of virology · 2024Moss WJ, Griffin DEDOI: 10.1128/jvi.00758-24
[Measles virus].ReviewUirusu · 2025Seki F, Takeda MDOI: 10.2222/jsv.75.13
Measles pathogenesis, immune suppression and animal models.ReviewCurrent opinion in virology · 2020Laksono BM, de Vries RD, Duprex WP et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.coviro.2020.03.002
Measles.ReviewThe New England journal of medicine · 2019Strebel PM, Orenstein WADOI: 10.1056/NEJMcp1905181
Measles: An Ongoing Threat.ReviewPediatric annals · 2025Popofsky S, Romero JRDOI: 10.3928/19382359-20250307-03
Measles again?Medicina clinica · 2024López-Perea NDOI: 10.1016/j.medcli.2024.05.021
Measles.ReviewLancet (London, England) · 2012Moss WJ, Griffin DEDOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(10)62352-5

via PubMed

Wikidata facts

Image: RougeoleDP.jpg
Number of deaths: 89780

Show 10 more facts

NCI Thesaurus ID: C96406
Commons gallery: Measles
ICPC 2 ID: A71
exact match: identifiers.org/doid/DOID:0050309
Commons category: Measles
minimal incubation period in humans: 7
maximal incubation period in humans: 21
ICD-9-CM: 055
basic reproduction number: 15
P8168: Güsten

Sources (11)

via Wikidata · CC0

~48 min read

Article

28 sections

Contents

Signs and symptoms
Complications
Immune amnesia
Cause
Pathophysiology
Diagnosis
Laboratory testing
Prevention
Vitamin A and measles prevention
Treatment
Prognosis
Epidemiology
Europe
Americas
Canada
United States
Brazil
Southeast Asia
South Pacific
Samoa
Africa
Madagascar
Democratic Republic of Congo
History
Vaccination
Society and culture
References
External links

Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than , cough, runny nose, and inflamed eyes. Small white spots known as Koplik spots may form inside the mouth two or three days after the start of symptoms. A red, flat rash which usually starts on the face and then spreads to the rest of the body typically begins three to five days after the start of symptoms. Common complications include diarrhea (in 8% of cases), middle ear infection (7%), and pneumonia (6%). These occur in part due to measles-induced immunosuppression. Less commonly, seizures, blindness, or inflammation of the brain may occur.