Measles with eye or mouth complications

Identifying and treating measles complications in infants and children in the early stages of the infection can prevent many deaths. As you read earlier, these children should be treated with vitamin A. It will help decrease the severity of the complications as well as correct any vitamin A deficiency. The mother should be taught how to treat the child’s eye infection or mouth ulcers at home.

Eye infections should be treated as follows:

• If pus is still draining from the eye, ask the mother to describe how she has treated the eye infection. If treatment has been given correctly, you should refer the child to hospital. If not, teach the mother the correct treatment; this may help to solve the problem.
• If the pus is gone but redness remains, tell the mother to continue the treatment.
• If no pus or redness, tell the mother she can stop the treatment.

Mouth ulcers should be treated with gentian violet twice daily as follows:

• Wash hands.
• Clean the child’s mouth with a clean soft cloth wrapped around a clean stick or the end of a spoon and wet with salt water.
• Paint the mouth with half strength gentian violet.
• Wash hands again.

Treating mouth ulcers helps the child to resume normal feeding more quickly.