Measles and rubella misdiagnosed in infants as exanthem subitum (roseola infantum)

Abstract

A single serum sample was collected from each of 103 children aged 10-120 weeks notified as having clinically diagnosed measles4 or rubella5 (67 and 36 children respectively). Samples were taken a mean of 30 days after the onset of illness and were known not to contain IgM specific for measles, rubella, and human parvovirus B194 5—the cause of “fifth disease,” another common childhood exanthem. An indirect immunofluorescence test for human herpesvirus-6 IgG was used to detect low avidity antibody.1 The results were compared by using logistic regression with those previously obtained with control samples from randomly selected children of the same age.1