My Address is Earth: Tigdas

There is so many fallacies, so many myths about it.
It’s very easy to believe what LOLA has told you about tigdas, especially, because you have not seen one.
One of their mythful advices is to let the child eat a lot of eggs, so the skin lesions will erupt at the maximum, so it will never come back. They must be wrapped in blankets. They must not be allowed to bathe. They must be applied with Alcampor, tina or gentian blue. And they must never be exposed to air. Or else, they will get worse or not become well for a long time.

None of them is true. (BTW, Alcampor causes first degree burn in children. Stop using them.)

So what is Tigdas?

Answer:
Tigdas as a word did not evolve to be classified to a specific disease... But Department of Health is using it to call Measles or Rubeola. So when doctors talk about Tigdas, we are referring to Measles or Rubeola. So, German measles or Rubella, although it is also a “tigdas” has no direct filipino translation. Weird?!....It can get weirder! Roseola infantum, a very common “tigdas” in children also has no translations.
When mothers come to my clinic, and they think their kids have tigdas...what they mean is...their child has fever and red rashes, sometimes rashes only.

Measles is a viral infection heralded by fever, cough, colds, conjunctivitis, rashes, and desquamation or sloughing of skin plus complications.

Why is Tigdas (Measles or Rubeola) so scary?
Answer:
Because it’s fatal; Children die of its complications: pneumonia, brain infection, severe dehydration, and blood infection.

Is there a way NOT to get it? Or can you prevent it from happening to your kid?
Answer:
Yes, vaccination. The vaccine is existent since the 1960’s and available at your local health center or your pediatrician’s clinic.

What are some conditions that have fever and rash (tigdas-like diseases) ?
Answer:
1.Measles or Rubeola or Tigdas
2.German Measles or Rubella (Though it’s foreign sounding, you can have it regardless of your race, )
3.Roseola infantum or Tigdas hangin
4.Dengue Fever
5.Menigococcemia
6.Drug allergy/ toxicity
7.Erythema infectiosum
8.Kawasaki disease
9.Chicken pox,
These conditions are interchangeable to the untrained eye. You need to show your child to a health worker or, at best, your pediatrician

Who gets the scary deadly tigdas?
Answer:
1. The unvaccinated individual :
      a.Ethnic groups too far to be visited by health center personnel.
      b.The extremely superstitious persons who plainly refuses medical help, unless, they are at the brink of death...(so they can blame the health personnel for death or complications )
      c.The extremely ignorant   and/or extremely stupid
2. The vaccinated individuals
      a.Those who were hit with atypical measles,
      b.Those taking medicines that decreases immunity like steroids,
      c.Those recovering from a severe illness or surgery and
      d.Those with weakness of the immune system whether acquired or congenital.

IMPORTANT:
Anti-Tigdas or Measles vaccine is LIBRE at the nearest health center; there is NO reason for any child to get this DEADLY disease.