The message is loud and clear, the measles is not chicken pox. Do not expose your kids to it. Tell your kids to stay away from other kids who are coughing.

  • Dharma Curious (he/him)@slrpnk.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    19
    ·
    23 hours ago

    TIL why my mom always checked my throats for spots whenever we mentioned any kind of not feeling well. First thing she did. I always assumed it was just a strep thing, but she grew up in a time when measles was still an active threat. I just remember white spots in the throat being the biggest thing. No white spots, go to bed. White spots, go to doctor.

    Fun fact: I ignored that advice in my late twenties and ended up with scarlet fever. Like a fucking Victorian child. Didn’t even know scarlet fever was still a thing.

    • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      edit-2
      21 hours ago

      You dope. White spots = strep = you get antibiotics and start feeling better fast! No spots, it’s a virus and you have to suffer through it for 2 weeks.

      And of course, as you said, strep can become scarlet fever, where you stand defiantly in the sunset thinking (but not declaring, because your throat hurts) “as God is mah witness, Ah’ll nevah leave strep untreated again!”

      Glad you survived.

      • Dharma Curious (he/him)@slrpnk.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        20 hours ago

        Thing is, I only had a minor sore throat for like 24 hours, with a couple white spots, and honestly, I just thought the sore throat was from some, uh, recreational activity the night before. But I felt just awful and flinchy* for several days, then I got these red bumps all over my back and shoulders, and then almost died.

        *I get flinchy when I have a fever or get sick. Something touches me and it’s like my body jumps or flinches and I don’t understand it at all. It’s happened my whole life, but about 6 months after the scarlet fever I got mono, and got super flinchy as well, and now that’s just a thing that happens to me now, where my body involuntarily flinches whenever anything touches it. It’s not all the time, but it’ll do it for several days with no reason, and then not again for months. Doc doesn’t know why, but guesses it’s because the mono virus sticks around in you forever, and it’s just an after effect. Says hopefully it’ll go away eventually, but it’s been like 5 years, and every so often (coincidentally happening the last couple days) I just suddenly become a scared Chihuahua or some shit