The Children and Measles

In 1960 my husband was ordered to Kinmen. Less than three months after he left, news came that my sixth younger sister was to marry.

I was glad to receive the invitation and prepared to take the children back to Changhua for the wedding.

The night before we left, Mrs Li came to see whether my things were ready. “Alone with four children—train and bus—take care all the way,” she said.

As we talked she noticed our second daughter 春蘭 sitting on a small stool, leaning on the bed by the door on the left as you enter our house. Mrs Li called her; 春蘭 lifted her head. Mrs Li said, “Something is wrong—this child seems ill, her face is so red, as if she has a fever.” She felt 春蘭’s forehead and lifted her clothes. Good heavens—red spots covered the upper half of her back, like measles. I was stunned. Normally fever lasts two or three days before the rash appears—how could the rash come out as soon as she was feverish?

Measles is contagious; I had to expect the other three children at home might catch it.

I thanked Mrs Li for her care; finding it early had saved us from worse. Missing my sister’s wedding was a pity, but the children mattered more.

Medicine has advanced; babies now receive many vaccines in their first months, measles among them, so young people today may never have heard of measles. Older people spoke of “the measles gate”: from catching measles until the fever subsides and the rash fades takes about a month.

The worst is the first week, when the child runs a fever.

If all goes well the rash spreads from the mouth to the whole body and needs very careful nursing so the fever does not burn too high and damage some part of the body.

A friend’s nose bridge, and the chin of my Penghu landlady’s younger sister, were both badly harmed because measles fever at age three was not treated in time. Even my husband, born in Sichuan—his elder sister and younger brother died of measles as children. If fever lasts too long, bone can suppurate and become chronic; in the end the rotten bone must be removed. Often the illness is cured and life saved, but a once pretty face is changed.

The landlady’s sister, because the family was poor, could not afford plastic surgery—a lifelong regret. My friend fell ill at three in 1944, when the war against Japan was fiercest; people hid from air raids every day and doctors could not be found—hence how she is now.

Whenever she speaks of it she tells everyone, “When little children get a rash you must take great care—do not end up like me, regretting it for life.”

Remembering her warning, I was all the more careful.

To bring down the heat we used the old method of pulling “five-root grass” and mm grass roots from the seaside, boiling them with winter-melon sugar to drink.

春蘭 drank this several times a day until the fever broke. Only after the rash had fully faded did we give light food, lest greasy things cause diarrhoea.

When 春蘭’s rash was nearly gone, our third daughter began to run a fever. By then I was prepared—the fourth might be next. Alone I could not nurse several children with measles, so I told Village Chief Uncle Yang our difficulty.

Uncle Yang was kind. He promised to report to the unit and help my husband get a week’s leave. After the squadron leader approved, a telegram was sent to my husband on the offshore island. He completed the leave formalities, then waited six days for a flight before he could reach home.

When he returned, our second daughter’s rash was nearly over; our third was covered; our fourth had begun to fever. Seeing him back, I breathed easier. Measles looks frightening, but with careful care, keeping fever from running too high, children can come through safely.

Our eldest stayed well throughout. I wanted him to catch it while his younger siblings were ill so we would not worry about him later. I gave him food our daughter had eaten, hoping to infect him quickly and tend them together. Perhaps his immunity was too strong—even now, nearing sixty, I have never seen him break out with measles.