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Disease Description
Measles is an acute viral illness caused by a virus in the family paramyxovirus, genus
Morbillivirus. Measles is characterized by a prodrome of fever and malaise, cough, coryza, and
conjunctivitis, followed by a maculopapular rash. Measles is usually a mild or moderately severe
illness. However, measles can result in complications such as pneumonia, encephalitis and
death. From 1987–2000, in the United States, nearly one third of measles cases (29%) had some
complication, with 6% of cases complicated by pneumonia, and 19% being hospitalized. During
that period, measles resulted in encephalitis in 1 per 1000 reported cases and death was reported
in 0.3% of the cases.1
The most severe sequela of measles virus infection is subacute sclerosing
panencephalitis (SSPE), a fatal disease of the central nervous system that generally develops
7–10 years after infection. Among persons who contracted measles during the resurgence in
the U.S. in 1989–1991, the risk of SSPE was estimated to be 6.5–11 cases/100,000 cases of
measles. The risk of developing SSPE may be higher when measles occurs prior to the second
year of life.2
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