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Question 1

What are Koplik’s spots?

Answer 1

• prodromic viral enanthem of measles
• manifesting two to three days before the measles rash itself. – characterized as clustered, white lesions on the buccal mucosa (opposite the lower 1st & 2nd molars)
• pathognomonic for measles

Question 2

What are Koplik’s spots used for?

Answer 2

• diagnostic significance
• important in the control of outbreaks.
• Their appearance, in context of a diagnosed case, before they reach maximum infectivity, permits isolation of the contacts and greatly aids control of this highly infectious disease.

Question 3

Describe the rash for rubeola

Answer 3

• eruption begins behind the ears, at the hairline, and on the forehead and
• then spreads down the body, - often becoming confluent

Harrison’s

Question 4

subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE)

Answer 4

• occurs up to 7 years after infection.
• Diagnosis is
• • clinical (although this has become unreliable in areas where measles is no longer common) and
• • by detection of antibody (serum immunoglobulin M (IgM), seroconversion or salivary IgM).

Question 5

What does SSPE stand for?

Answer 5

subacute sclerosing panencephalitis

Question 6

What can you say about measles mortality?

Answer 6

Mortality clusters at the extremes of age,

• averaging 1 : 1000 in developed countries and
• up to 1 : 4 in developing countries.
• Death usually results from a bacterial superinfection, occurring as a complication of measles:
• • most often pneumonia,
• • diarrhoeal disease or
• • noma/cancrum oris, a gangrenous stomatitis.
• • Death may also result from complications of measles encephalitis.