Measles

Over 11, 000 American children died of measles in the year 1910. This did not include a large number who died of broncho-pneumonia, a great number of cases of which, in children, are caused by measles. Sixty-eight and two-tenths per cent of all deaths from broncho-pneumonia occur in children under 5 years of age, a time of life when measles is most apt to occur. But the story of the ravages of this disease is not complete without the mention of the large number of cases of tuberculosis which follow an attack of it. Less frequently inflammation of the ear or the eye may be left behind as a mark of a visitation of this common disease. From a public health standpoint, then, measles is a disease of prime importance. Long association with a disease breeds a contempt for it, and measles, in common with the other diseases of childhood, has come to be looked upon as an unavoidable accompaniment of youth.