Ten days before being admitted to the hospital, male patient N.V.T, 56 years old, from Ky Anh, Ha Tinh, had symptoms of headache, fatigue and conjunctival congestion. The patient bought fever reducer and pain reliever at a pharmacy near his home but saw no improvement.
After 6 days of self-medication at home, the patient still had a headache, high fever, fatigue, difficulty breathing, conjunctival congestion causing discomfort and a red rash on the head and back spreading to the neck and chest.
The patient came to the lower level medical facility for examination and was transferred to the General Infection Department, Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases.
Upon admission, the patient still had a high fever, rash, frequent Vietnamese sausagey diarrhea, and secondary infection. After 1 day of hospitalization, the patient's condition continued to worsen with acute respiratory failure.
The patient was immediately transferred to the Intensive Care Unit with high-flow oxygen support and diagnosed with measles with rapidly progressive respiratory failure in adults.
After 4 days of intensive treatment, the patient was alert, fever reduced, Vietnamese sausage consumption decreased significantly, respiratory failure improved significantly, and indicators returned to stable levels.
Dr. Pham Van Phuc - Deputy Head of the Department of Intensive Care - said: Measles is an acute infectious disease, causing an epidemic, caused by the measles virus, transmitted through the respiratory tract. Measles has typical symptoms of fever, rash, inflammation of the respiratory tract, conjunctivitis, and digestive tract. Measles can easily lead to serious and sometimes fatal complications including pneumonia and encephalitis. Measles in adults rarely occurs.
Adults with measles often have risk factors such as those who have never been vaccinated against measles; people with reduced immunity to measles over time; people with underlying diseases and immunodeficiency; chemotherapy, cancer treatment...
When detecting unusual symptoms, people should go to a reputable medical facility for timely examination and treatment to avoid unfortunate complications.
