Measles is a viral infection, and is highly contagious through mucus and saliva.
Symptoms include cough, fever, red eyes, muscle aches, and runny nose. a rash which consists of red bumps all over the body, will appear after a few days. Measles affect the respiratory system, then spreads to the rest of the body. This virus has a low death rate in children and adults, but it is lethal. Most of the deaths occurred of children age 5 and under. Measles are acute, lasting at most two or three weeks.
There is no specific antibiotic for measles, but many remedies help the symptoms. Acetaminophen helps to relive the fever and muscle aches. Rest, plenty of water, and vitamin A will help boost the immune system. A humidifier will help to ease the cough and sore throat.
Measles used to be very common, until they developed the vaccine. When the vaccine first came out hardly anyone had it. In fact, in 2015 there were only 189 cases in the united state. But now, not as many people have been getting the vaccine, so more cases have shown up. 114,900 global deaths were related to measles in 2014.
http://www.healthline.com/health/measles#Overview1
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs286/en/