Typical, Modified, and Atypical Measles: An Emerging Problem in the Adolescent and Adult

A small outbreak of measles that occurred in August and September of 1975 was studied. One adolescent boy who had received killed measles vaccine 12 years previously had atypical measles, a 31-year-old woman had typical primary measles, and two other boys with measles were live vaccine failures. Of these latter two cases, clinical and serologic findings suggest that one boy had primary vaccine failure and the other may have had a secondary immunologic response. The findings of this study, as well as the results of other recent investigations, suggest that measles will be of increasing concern for the internist.