Anyone heard of 'Roseola' or is it 'Measles'?

[Mollie2403]

Hello everyone, I'm new to Mumsnet and just wondered if anyone has had a similar experience...

Just a bit of background first - I have identical twin boys (DS1 & DS2) who were born 2 1/2 months premature. They're almost 17 months old now (14 1/2 months corrected). They did have their initial vaccines @ 2, 3 and 4 months. However, they have not had their MMR yet. DH and I are not anti-vaccination but obviously with all the controversy about the MMR we want to do as much research as we can before we make a decision. We do understand that they are at risk from these diseases whilst we are taking our time deciding but at the same time we want to fully understand the risks involved with having the vaccines and where to have them should we decide on singles. Also, because they were premature we feel we should wait a little longer so they are a bit stronger.

I don't want this to start a debate about vaccinating - I know everyone has different views on the whole subject but I just wanted to start by describing how we feel about it so far.

Anyway, what happened is, last Monday DS2 suddenly started with a high temperature which lasted until Wednesday evening. I gave him Calpol which did help and apart from his temperature he seemed OK. He was a little slower with his food and drink but nothing to worry about.

When he woke on Thursday, his temperature had returned to normal however he started with a rash on his stomach, back and some on his face. He did get a viral rash all over just after Christmas which lasted for about two weeks. This rash looked similar but by Friday morning his eyes were a bit puffy and the rash was all over his face. It was a pinkish rash, spotty in some areas and blotchy in others. However, he was fine in himself, still no temperature, laughing, giggling, playing and eating well!

Obviously I was still very worried and took him to the doctors. When the doctor seen him he said it was measles, even though he said it was quite rare and he had only seen one other case in the past year. I explained that he was otherwise well and had no other symptoms of measles except for the rash and temperature but he just gave me some printed information about it and told me about the complications. He also said he would have to report it to the Public Health and they would be in touch to do some mouth swabs to confirm it.

However, yesterday morning I got up expecting the rash to have spread even more but it had started to fade and his face was almost clear. Today it has disappeared completely??

I thought a child would be quite poorly with measles? Having done a bit of research myself, I understand there is another virus called Roseola which used to be confused with measles however its main characteristic is that the temperature suddenly stops and the rash starts. His symptoms seemed to relate to this more so than measles.

Could it be Roseola? Can you get measles mildly? I am worried about his twin brother catching whatever it was. Has anyone had a similar experience?

[piffle]

yes in Uk too, I was in Hants at the time and 4 babies in our area caught it
This was in Jan/Feb last year.
The worry was worse than the actual measles. DD was really good, simply slept, fed, calpol slept, fed , ibuprofen etc etc etc
Babies know when to rest I reckon....

[Mollie2403]

Were all the other children who caught it at the time OK too?

[Mollie2403]

I'm glad lockets

[piffle]

all other kids that caught it near us were fine too, two only had it mildly (one had just been vaccinated) the other one was much older teenage girl who was back playing netball within a week of being ill!!!!

[Mollie2403]

Does anyone know of anyone else who has never had a vaccine for measles and never caught it? Maybe I'm just unusual?(!)

[Mollie2403]

Also, I don't want to be too nosey as I know it's a very personal subject but had your children been vaccinated and if not were you worried about them having vaccines before they caught the measles?

[piffle]

My ds reacted badly to the mmr he went into anaphylactic shock, no one knows why as yet.
DD was not going to be vacc'd. After seeing my son and not knowing why he reacted, it is beyond me to give any of my kids the mmr.
Ds is not immune to M ,M or R (we had him tested after his reaction hopeing that it might have worked but no)but did not catch measles when his sister had it last year.
I do worry for him though.

[Mollie2403]

So sorry piffle, I didn't mean to pry too much. That must have been awful.

[Jimjams]

locketys- you probably had a subclinical infection to chickepnpox. I've never had it but was expposed when pregnant - quick check and hey presto antibodies were there. This can happen with any childhood infection (well any infection) but from reading I think is most common with mumps.

[piffle]

its all right no prying at all, I tell everybody again and again
he had no reason to react, it is total mystery although they suspect he could have a reaction to the actual needle, but we cannot safely test it as his reaction was so extreme.
He is not allowed any vaccinations at all, he is to be tested carefully before TB....

[piffle]

before they got the needle out!
we already suspected he would react as he had very bad reaction to the early jabs which were also suspended - so they were very prepared, which was lucky as ordinarily they may not have had the equipment close enough to save his life - SCARY
I was in this awful situation as my littlest brother nearly died of measles 2 yrs earlier and I was damned if I did and if I didn't.
The word guilt does not even cover it...

[piffle]

brother was 15, he got inflammation of the brain lining (I think it was that I was a uni going 20 yr old - fairly selfish so not entirely sure)
he was placed into a sedated coma and they could not get him to wake up for a few days afterwards
He was so ill it was desperate, we all got called to the hospital as they did consider at one point he might die.
Astonishingly he made an astounding recovery, he has a little trouble with his eyes now, but barely enough to mention, he did lose some motor and processing skills but learned then back with intensive therapy.
Sat his School Cert (this was in NZ) on time, went on to double degree at uni, he is now property developer in London
Seeing my son and my brother both on the verge of dying, how am I supposed to make a bloody "right"choice?
DD actually getting the measles and being ok, was probably the best solution...