Abstract
We analyzed 44 measles patients who visited Kitami Red Cross Hospital, and were 15 years old or older. The ages of these patients actually ranged from 15 to 41 (the mean age was 20.6 years old). Among the 44 patients, only 4 (9%) had been previously vaccinated against measles. Regarding the symptoms, all the patients had fevers. Additional symptoms included sore throat (98%), cough (93%), diarrhea (52%), and nausea/vomiting (34%). Koplik’s spots were seen in 96% of the cases and were useful for diagnosis. Comparison of laboratory results of measles with those from patients aged less than 15 years who visited the Kitami Red Cross Hospital during the same period disclosed that thrombocytopenia and liver dysfunction were more commonly observed in the older age group. Complications included bacterial pneumonia (1 case) and measles encephalitis (1 case). Three of the patients were pregnant women, two of whom showed signs of threatened abortion or prematurity. These three cases were adequately treated with successful delivery and the delivered infants had no evidence of malformation or other abnormalities. Recently, measles infection has been observed in older age groups. This results in considerable numbers of cases of measles in pregnant women. We suggest that measles vaccination is desirable for adolescents and adults who are susceptible to measles, which may be accompanied by more serious symptoms in older age groups.
