Who had measles when?

[Peterhof]

That's right, it seems to be the result of the high fever (correct me if I'm wrong, please).  Once you recover from measles, and comb your hair, you find a whole section of your hair is now in the comb.  The thing is that the lost of hair is not uniform and doesn't look good at all, best solution is cut it all and it will grow uniformly.

[Sarushka]

According to Gilliard, their hair had been shaved by 9/22 June.

[Holly]

It's kind of strange they gave Anastasia pyramidon. It is an old medicine against pain and fever; kind of like aspirin and quite dangerous. But I guess they didn't know that back then.

[Sarushka]

Is there any chance that pyramidon might have caused their hair loss....?

[Holly]

Mm... I don't think so, but I'm not completely sure. I've always heard that their hair loss was a combination of medication and high fevers but I've never heard of any medicines causing such hair loss. I bet it was simply the high fevers. I remember reading once that measles itself could cause hair loss but I can't figure out where I read it.
Measles can also cause pneumonia and delirium so I guess that's probably how Maria got it.

[Sarushka]

And tramping through the snow at midnight is subzero temperatures after being exposed to the virus probably didn't help much....

[Raegan]

It looks like Anna Vyrubova caught measles from the children sometime between 24 and 27 February. Again, there are gaps in the diary, but Vyrubova was certainly ill on or before the 27th.

The way Olga wrote in her diary makes it sound like Anya became ill the same day she did. From Olga’s diary dated March 15, 1917: On the 23rd at breakfast got sick with measles -was put to bed. Aleksei during the day, and Anya too.

[Raegan]

More precise dates (old style) for the Little Pair's illness are given in the Russian edition of Alexandra's diary. Anastasia had a bit of a temperature on the morning of 28 February, but seems to have held out until the morning of 2 March. Maria was ill by 8 March. Alexandra made no entries on 6 or 7 March, so it's possible Maria was confined to bed prior to the 8th.

Forgot to add to this. This is what Olga wrote: Shvybz got sick on the 2-nd, M.[arch] – Maria 7-th.

[Raegan]

Measles can also cause pneumonia and delirium so I guess that's probably how Maria got it.

Really? I wasn't aware of that.

[helenazar]

From Mayo Clinic website:

Measles symptoms and signs appear 10 to 12 days after exposure to the virus. They typically include:

Fever
Dry cough
Runny nose
Inflamed eyes (conjunctivitis)
Sensitivity to light
Tiny red spots with bluish-white centers found inside the mouth on the inner lining of the cheek, called Koplik's spots
A skin rash made up of large, flat blotches that often flow into one another

The course of the measles virus

Measles typically begins with a mild to moderate fever, accompanied by other signs and symptoms, such as a persistent cough, runny nose, inflamed eyes (conjunctivitis) and sore throat. Two or three days later, Koplik's spots — a characteristic sign of measles — appear. Then a fever spikes, often as high as 104 or 105 F. At the same time, a red blotchy rash appears, usually on the face, along the hairline and behind the ears. This slightly itchy rash rapidly spreads downward to the chest and back and, finally, to your thighs and feet. After about a week, the rash fades in the same sequence that it appeared.

[Sarushka]

More precise dates (old style) for the Little Pair's illness are given in the Russian edition of Alexandra's diary. Anastasia had a bit of a temperature on the morning of 28 February, but seems to have held out until the morning of 2 March. Maria was ill by 8 March. Alexandra made no entries on 6 or 7 March, so it's possible Maria was confined to bed prior to the 8th.

It looks like Anna Vyrubova caught measles from the children sometime between 24 and 27 February. Again, there are gaps in the diary, but Vyrubova was certainly ill on or before the 27th.

At the time I made this post, I was working from an abridged edition of Alexandra's 1917 diary. I have a complete diary now, and it confirms the information Raegan posted from Olga's diary about the Little Pair's illness: Anastasia's fever began with a reading of 37.2 on the morning of 2 March, and Maria had a temperature of 37.7 by noon on 7 March.

Alexandra began recording Vyrubova's temperature at 3:00pm on 24 February.

[Sarushka]

According to Gilliard, their hair had been shaved by 9/22 June.

FINALLY found the precise date of OTMA's hair being shaved in Nicholas & Alexandra's diaries:

Alexandra Feodorovna, 3/16 June
Всех четверых девочек обрили наголо, так как после кори стали сильно выпадать волосы.
(All four girls were shaved bald, because after measles much of their hair fell out.)

Nicholas II, 3/16 June
Все четыре дочери сбрили себе волосы, так как после кори они сильно лезли.
(All four daughters shaved their hair, because after measles it fell out badly.)


And on the following day, Alexandra notes: "Aleksei had his hair also complete shaved off."

[nena]

Interesting. But the difference that Alexei wanted to be shaved there is funny scene in which he almost begged Alexandra to allow him to be shaved.

[Kalafrana]

So the head-shaving was about three months after they had measles.

Interesting that Alexei actually wanted his head shaved! Presumably it wasn't because he was fed up with his existing haircuts, because all pictures taken after he was four or five show him with sensible boyish haircuts.

Incidentally, I had measles when I was three and certainly kept my hair (though quite possibly I didn't have it all that badly).

Ann

[nena]

Well, I think Alexei had several haircuts before 1917. Even in 1916, I noticed that his hair was cut off almost all. In the photo with Russian teacher Petrov, seated on the chair, for example. `