Rubeola keratitis

Abstract

Twenty-seven young adult patients with rubeola were evaluated during the acute contagious phase of their disease. Koplik's spots were present in all patients. Conjunctivitis was present in 15 of the 27 (56%), and photophobia was present in 14 of the 27 (52%). Bilateral epithelial keratitis was present in all 27 patients. This keratitis, in otherwise healthy young adults, as in healthy children, was a benign process and required no medical therapy. The epithelial lesions were very slow to resolve completely and continued to be seen at the slit lamp after the patients had become asymptomatic. Ophthalmologists may be more involved in the future in diagnosing the ocular lesions of measles (and in making the initial diagnosis of rubeola) because of the changing nature of the susceptible population group in the United States.