It is unclear if zinc supplementation in children with measles affects outcomes as it has not been sufficiently studied. There are no adequate studies on whether Chinese medicinal herbs are effective. Prognosis
Most people survive measles, though in some cases, complications may occur. About 1 in 4 individuals will be hospitalized and 1–2 in 1000 will die. Complications are more likely in children under age 5 and adults over age 20. Pneumonia is the most common fatal complication of measles infection and accounts for 56-86% of measles-related deaths.Possible consequences of measles virus infection include laryngotracheobronchitis, sensorineural hearing loss, and—in about 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 300,000 cases—panencephalitis, which is usually fatal. Acute measles encephalitis is another serious risk of measles virus infection. It typically occurs two days to one week after the measles rash breaks out and begins with very high fever, severe headache, convulsions and altered mentation. A person with measles encephalitis may become comatose, and death or brain injury may occur.For people having had measles, it is rare to ever have a symptomatic reinfection.The measles virus can deplete previously acquired immune memory by killing cells that make antibodies, and thus weakens the immune system which can cause deaths from other diseases. Suppression of the immune system by measles lasts about two years and has been epidemiologically implicated in up to 90% of childhood deaths in third world countries, and historically may have caused rather more deaths in the United States, the UK and Denmark than were directly caused by measles.
From there it continues to spread, eventually getting into the blood and spreading to more lung tissue, as well as other organs like the intestines and the brain. Functional impairment of the infected dendritic cells by the measles virus is thought to contribute to measles-induced immunosuppression. Diagnosis
Typically, clinical diagnosis begins with the onset of fever and malaise about 10 days after exposure to the measles virus, followed by the emergence of cough, coryza, and conjunctivitis that worsen in severity over 4 days of appearing. Observation of Kopliks spots is also diagnostic. Other possible condition that can result in these symptoms include parvovirus, dengue fever, Kawasaki disease, and scarlet fever. Laboratory confirmation is however strongly recommended. Laboratory testing
Laboratory diagnosis of measles can be done with confirmation of positive measles IgM antibodies or detection of measles virus RNA from throat, nasal or urine specimen by using the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assay. This method is particularly useful to confirm cases when the IgM antibodies results are inconclusive. For people unable to have their blood drawn, saliva can be collected for salivary measles-specific IgA testing. Salivary tests used to diagnose measles involve collecting a saliva sample and testing for the presence of measles antibodies. This method is not ideal, as saliva contains many other fluids and proteins which may make it difficult to collect samples and detect measles antibodies. Saliva also contains 800 times fewer antibodies than blood samples do, which makes salivary testing additionally difficult.