Complications of Measles

Nice easy rule to remember the complications of measles; the rule of tens.

10% Otitis media

1% Pneumonia 
(make sure you discriminate viral from bacterial pneumonia in this case. Viral pneumonia caused by measles itself will be concomitant with the rash. Bacterial pneumonia caused by co-infection will appear 1-2 days after the rash has gone.)

0.1% Meningoencephalitis 
(another nice little division here is in quarters; 50% will be cured and fine after measles meningoencephalitis, 25% will have some kind of neurologic sequele and 25% will die! this is the reason we vaccinate people with the MMR vaccine!)

0.00001% Panencephalitis
(this occurs many years (average 7 years) after measles infection and for most means death, another good reason to vaccinate with the live vaccine unless you are immuno-compromised of course)

Other complications: Diarrhoea (most common), Seizures (as rare as meningitis)

(Measles mickey, a reference to the measles outbreak in Disneyland)

April round-up (Medical student gems)

Youtube Channel: theedexitvideo
TheEDexitvideo channel run by Dr Carlo Oller gives great insight into life as an emergency department physician. It's a wonderful educational resource with the personal touch of a real down to earth honest doc.

Book: How Not to Die
Dr Michael Gregers book has been a long time in the works. Finally released last autumn, how not to die is a must read for anybody with an interest in nutrition. It even got me munching on plants more often.

Twitter accounts: @HansRosling @ShaunLintern 
Professor of global health at the Karolinska institute, creator of Gapminder.org and the Gapminder foundation, Hans Rosling. Sign up for his entirely free online introduction to global health course at eDX. Shaun Lintern a patient safety correspondent and a good one to follow to keep in touch with various issues with the UK health system.

Webpage: Global burden of disease
This interactive website run by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, is just fantastic. You can play around with the various graph styles, regions and income groups to have a really clear world view on the impact of diseases in the different groups. 

Film: Sicko
This famous Michael Moore documentary looks gives insight into the drawbacks and horrors of the American health system, although slow to start it is quite shocking. His latest documentary ‘where to invade next’ flopped, however Sicko is iconic Michael Moore at his best.

Hans Rosling and the magic washing machine (2010)

Fantastic talk by one of the most intelligent men in the world. It really gives perspective of global economics and population. visit his website GAPMINDER,ORG, it is really fantastic!