Koplik spots are a prodromic

Prodrome

In medicine, a prodrome is an early symptom that might indicate the start of a disease before specific symptoms occur. It is derived from the Greek word prodromos or precursor...

 viral enanthem

Enanthem

Mucous membrane Rash arising from another focus of infection.Enanthem or enanthema are medical terms for a rash on the mucous membranes. These are characteristic of patients with smallpox, measles, and chicken pox....

 of measles manifesting two days before the measles

Measles

Measles, also known as rubeola or morbilli, is an infection of the respiratory system caused by a virus, specifically a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus. Morbilliviruses, like other paramyxoviruses, are enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses...

 rash

Rash

A rash is a change of the skin which affects its color, appearance or texture. A rash may be localized in one part of the body, or affect all the skin. Rashes may cause the skin to change color, itch, become warm, bumpy, chapped, dry, cracked or blistered, swell and may be painful. The causes, and...

 itself. They are characterized as clustered, white lesions on the buccal

Cheek

Cheeks constitute the area of the face below the eyes and between the nose and the left or right ear. They may also be referred to as jowls. "Buccal" means relating to the cheek. In humans, the region is innervated by the buccal nerve...

 mucosa near each Stenson's duct (opposite the premolars) and are pathognomonic

Pathognomonic

Pathognomonic is a term, often used in medicine, that means characteristic for a particular disease. A pathognomonic sign is a particular sign whose presence means that a particular disease is present beyond any doubt...

 for measles

Measles

Measles, also known as rubeola or morbilli, is an infection of the respiratory system caused by a virus, specifically a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus. Morbilliviruses, like other paramyxoviruses, are enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses...

. The textbook description of Koplik spots is ulcerated mucosal lesions marked by necrosis, neutrophilic exudate, and neovascularization. They are described as appearing like "grains of salt on a wet background", and often fade as the macular rash develops.

History

They are named after Henry Koplik

Henry Koplik

Henry Koplik was an American physician. He was educated at the College of the City of New York and at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and earned his medical degree in 1881. He took a postgraduate course at the universities of Leipzig, Prague, and Vienna, and upon his return to America,...

 (1858-1927), an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 pediatrician who described them in 1896.

The first description of these spots by some authors are ascribed to Reubold, Würzburg 1854, by others to Johann Andreas Murray (1740-1791). Before Koplik, the German internist Carl Jakob Adolf Christian Gerhardt

Carl Jakob Adolf Christian Gerhardt

Carl Jakob Adolf Christian Gerhardt ; was a German internist born in Speyer....

(1833-1902) in 1874, the Danish physician N. Flindt in 1879, and the Russian Nicolai Feodorowitsch von Filatov (1847-1902) in 1895, had observed equivalent phenomena.

External links

• Image of Koplik's spots - dentistry.leeds.ac.uk.
• Koplik spots in early measles - Canadian Medical Association Journal