Worldwide, measles kills more than 100,000 people a year. Most of them are under age 5. When it comes to treating measles, there's never been much for it. And in areas without access to a safe vaccine, they’ve had to cobble together treatment plans as best they can. Unfortunately, that means a lot of children fall through the cracks.
One thing the World Health Organization found that reduced the number of people dying from measles was vitamin A supplementation. This mainly works because not getting enough vitamin A can make the measles much worse.
Being at a correct vitamin level is never a bad thing. But it won’t keep you from getting sick. Especially with the measles, which is the most contagious illness we currently know.
According to UVA Health infectious disease expert Patrick Jackson, MD, “It’s an incredibly contagious virus, so we rely on high levels of vaccination to contain the spread,” he said. “That makes me worry about when we’ll have a lower vaccine level and see more sustained transmission of measles.”
And sure enough, in the middle of this outbreak, myths and half-truths abound. So, let’s take a closer look at what vitamin A can, and can’t, help with when it comes to measles.
What Is Vitamin A?
Vitamin A is a nutrient that helps your body do things like:
- Grow and develop
- Improve immune system
- Maintain healthy vision (especially night vision)
- Reproduce
If you’re interested in skincare, you might also know vitamin A by another name: retinol.
As a skin ingredient, retinol helps skin look healthy. And it can even prevent acne.
Where Vitamin A Comes From
The great thing about vitamin A is that it’s basically everywhere. It’s especially rich in liver. But if you’re not a liver fan, you’ll still probably get enough vitamin A from dairy.
Some of the other top sources of vitamin A also have a healthy amount of Omega-3s in them. Oily fish in particular.
But no need to worry, vegans! Beta-carotene is another way to get vitamin A, and it’s found in all of the good fruits and veggies. Including:
- Spinach
- Sweet potatoes
- Carrots
- Mangoes
- Apricots
All of these great sources mean that almost everyone in the United States gets enough vitamin A in their diet.
Vaccine, Vitamin, and Other Vital Questions?
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Why Vitamin A Supplementation Can Be Harmful
What’s wrong with parents giving their children a lot of vitamin A just to be on the safe side?
As it turns out, a lot.
Some vitamins you can take in excess without any negative effects. Like vitamin C. Other vitamins, if you have too much in your body, can cause illness. Vitamin A and D are 2 such vitamins.
In the right amount, they’re beneficial to your entire body and mental well-being. But too much or too little can cause a lot of problems.
In particular, for pregnant women, there are extreme risks with excess vitamin A. Including increased risk of:
- Spina bifida
- Problems with baby’s eyes and ears
- Congenital heart defects
- Miscarriage
That’s why prenatal vitamins use the beta-carotene (veggie) form of vitamin A, because this is much harder to overdose on. It’s also why pregnant people are cautioned to not use retinol containing products.
Vitamin A Use with Measles
For measles, there just aren’t many options for treatment. We can offer supportive care for symptoms. Antibiotics for pneumonia when it arises. And vitamin A, because it reduces the risk of complications like blindness.
Vitamin A is usually given in 2 large doses. And by large, we mean large. These doses would be extremely dangerous to take regularly.
The WHO’s treatment guidelines indicate that 2 doses of 200,000 international units (IU) of vitamin A be given to children with the measles.
This is extreme for a vitamin where the usual limit is around 2-3,000 IUs and the upper limit is around 10,000 for people with severe deficiency. That’s why these doses must be given by a doctor and only when a deficiency is suspected.
Why Not Just Give Measles Patients Vitamin A?
We can’t give it “just in case." Unlike some other vitamins, too much Vitamin A isn’t discarded by the body without harm. If too much vitamin A is given, some of the symptoms could include:
- Headaches
- Dizziness
- Abdominal pain
- Bone pain
But even more concerning, it could also include:
- Seizures
- Pressure on the brain
- Respiratory infection
All of these things already contribute to high death rates in measles patients.
High vitamin A dosing is a calculated risk for those with an active measles infection. And one where the variables will be different with different patients.
Sometimes a Treatment, Never a Preventative
Airbags don’t prevent car crashes. And they can even increase the risk for some passengers (which is why you shouldn’t put baby car seats in the front seat).
Likewise, vitamin A can’t prevent measles. For the right patient they can lessen the impact significantly, but for the wrong patient, they can make things worse.
If you heard a lot of people were crashing cars at an intersection, you’d mention airbags. But you’d also probably consider something that could actually stop more accidents, like a stop sign.
And that’s what vaccination does. It usually prevents infection entirely. And when infection does occur, it’s more likely to be mild.
