The highly infectious disease measles has recently hit at least 200 people in Texas and New Mexico and has resulted in at least one death. During this time, medical suggestions for measles treatment and prevention are going public — some information is accurate, and some is not.

So, what does the research literature say? There has been work investigating how Vitamin A can impact measles for a few decades. However, interpreting the results requires both subtly and nuance.

Vitamin A Supplements and Measles

Let’s tease them apart: the World Health Organization has, since 2000, recommended Vitamin A supplements to children in poorer countries. It also recommends all children infected with measles be given Vitamin A supplements. But the research has, so far, not made a convincing case of that treatment’s efficacy — at least in a wide audience.

Vitamin A therapy has shown some benefits in a few specific instances — but has not proven to be a panacea. One study pooled the results of eight separate studies of measles vaccination and Vitamin A treatment of 2,574 children.

They saw that “no overall significant reduction in mortality with Vitamin A therapy for children with measles was found,” said the authors in the paper. However, in children with measles two years old and younger, doses of Vitamin A two consecutive days did result in fewer deaths.

Read More: Measles Is Deadly And Highly Contagious But Also Easily Preventable

Less Vaccines, More Infections

To boil it down, if you have a child under two who has measles and is also deficient in Vitamin A, two days of supplements can give that child better odds of survival. Vitamin A has also been found to be relatively safe — when people stick to the recommended daily dose based on age and weight.

As for vaccines, the American Medical Association says that less vaccinations are leading to more infections.

“In Texas and a growing number of states across the country, declining vaccination rates are fueling a staggering increase in measles illnesses, measles hospitalizations, and the first death from the disease in years — all primarily among unvaccinated populations,” Bruce Scott, president of the American Medical Association, said in a statement.

He added, “As parents, our instinct is to do everything we can to keep our children safe. In the case of measles — a highly contagious disease that can cause severe health problems — that means getting your children vaccinated today. The measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine is extraordinarily safe and effective.”

Vaccines — not vitamins — remain the best way to prevent measles. But giving the appropriate dose to someone suffering from the disease will likely do no harm.

Article Sources

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Before joining Discover Magazine, Paul Smaglik spent over 20 years as a science journalist, specializing in U.S. life science policy and global scientific career issues. He began his career in newspapers, but switched to scientific magazines. His work has appeared in publications including Science News, Science, Nature, and Scientific American.