Mary has been sick for the last three or four days. This morning, she woke up with a rash. I used a handy reference book I have with a flow chart, and I concluded, based on the questions answered as best as I could, that she has measles.
Now she’s not even 9 months old, and children are not routinely immunized for measles until one year, so she does not have that protection.
Online, I researched measles and found this site with a drawing of a child with measles. Her rash is no where near that dark, but it does have that same mottled look.
Measles, though, is not something that spontaneously springs from your body. You have to get it somewhere. Since it is spread through coughing and sneezing, I know that I could have picked up virus droplets in any public place and transferred them to her. She could have picked them up in a grocery cart or while banging her hands on the church pew.
Looking at measles cases in the U.S. brought me to this article from last month which states that there have been 72 cases of measles so far this year (and this article shows that one person in Fairfax, VA, which is in my general vicinity, brought measles over from India).
There is one comment on the News-Medical article:
I would rather my autistic son had died of measles than live the shadow of a life that he is destined for with his condition. Autism robbed him of his soul.
This is so sad. I cannot imagine the difficulties of raising an autistic child, especially one who seemed normal and suddenly had problems. I also cannot imagine the emptiness of losing a child. I do not think the grass is green on either side of this fence.
I don’t really think that Mary has measles. The virus that has given her a fever for several days now was given to her by her siblings, two of whom have not been immunized for measles and neither of whom broke out in any rash. Besides that, she just hasn’t seemed very sick. Sick, but not measly.
I’ll keep an eye on her, and I’ll pray that she gets better soon. And I’ll pray for the autistic son and his parents, that they find healing: if not physical, then emotional.
Reit This Way 
Roseola often looks very “measly” — a pediatrician will tell you which it is and then you will know which one she is immune to for the future. Peach had Roseola around 10 months and I too was confused as to what it was.http://www.drgreene.com/21_1173.htmlIt’s very sad that the author of the comment you posted thinks her child’s soul was lost to autism. His beautiful soul is still there, even if she can’t seem to find it.
We’ve been through Roseola, Fifth Disease, and hand, foot and mouth–all of which can lead to rashes.Hope the little one is feeling better soon and you find out what she really has.And it is sad about that little boy. I’ll join my prayers to yours.
Two of my kids had roseola, and like Barbara said, it can look very much like the measles. I hope Mary feels better soon. The whole spectrum/autism/vaccination thing is a very sad, difficult situation. David had an adverse reaction to his DTaP shots at 8 months, so we’ve chosen to hold off on shots for now because his reaction is bad. I have been very worried about his health because he’s not protected. I will pray for the woman and her son. That breaks me heart. 😦 And hey, I’ll be in Fairfax on Friday, should you need anything. 🙂 Just don’t have Mary breathe on me. LOL!
I went with measles over roseola because the rash covers her head and spreads down which is typical for measles whereas roseola is on the trunk and doesn’t usually go to the face.She seems fine and it’s likely “just one of those things.”
I recall that when my Mary was about the same age she woke up from her nap with a strange rash. I was convinced it was chicken pox. (we were in Italy and had just seen a friend’s 4 children come down with whooping cough, the baby almost died)Tim got home and said it was some standard rash- fifth disease or such. But, I was so scared. Baby Mary, you are in our prayers, get better soon!
Grandma Reitemeyer would vote for Fifth Disease.Hope all are feeling better soon.Mom R.
We are very careful about immunizations here. There are some people who don’t give there children any shots until school age (my SIL), and others who don’t ask any questions and just get them all like the Dr. tells them too. We’ve tried to find a balance, but it’s hard to get accurate information. It’s scary and very sad to hear about children who were “normal” until they recieved the MMR shot. But wishing they had died instead of being autistic is even sadder. I’m sure this mother is grieving for her son, but he’s still blessing his family in his own way. We had decided that we were going to stay away from it (the MMR) until my ds (1 1/2) was older (at least 4), but we had a measles outbreak here in Arizona. In one county (not ours), they were recommending that children as young as 6 months get the shot. I’m not sure how I feel about that. Sometimes I think “they” try to scare people into making a decision they are not sure they want to.I read Dr. Sears’ “The Vaccine Book” and he talks about how they are made and all the possible side effects. Scary. Sometimes it seems as though the side effects are worse than the disease itself (and can sometimes cause it). Anyway, after going back and forth for awhile, we decided to get my ds the shot. We’re still watching him for any kind of reaction, (it can take 3 weeks) but so far so good.Sorry about the long comment. I will be praying for little Mary, and for the mother and her son.
Hope she gets to feeling better very soon!That comment from the mother almost made me cry though. We have been blessed that our Autistic son is high functioning, but this comment (I would assume [hope] it’s from a Mom with a child who is low functioning) just makes me horribly sad.
Fifth Disease, probably. This is one area I am glad I am almost finished with, baby sickness. My youngest is four, and while there are downsides to no baby in the house, no baby sickness is just fine with me.