Vitamin A and Measles
The use of vitamin A can greatly benefit children with severe measles. The July 19, 1990 (Vol. 323 No. 3) New England Journal of Medicine contains an article entitled "A Randomized, Controlled Trial of Vitamin A in Children with Severe Measles."
Although this common childhood disease often just "comes and goes," the fact is that many children become seriously ill from measles. Also, the disease kills about 2 million children a year. This study shows that the use of vitamin A supplements can have a dramatic impact on this disease, including a decrease in the length of the disease, reduced side effects (pneumonia, diarrhea and croup) and a reduced death rate.
Although this is the first major study on the use of vitamin A in measles, vitamin A therapy for bacterial, viral and protozoan infections has been known and used (although not widely) for many years.
A simple blood test may detect low vitamin A. However, the authors of this report say that "all children with severe measles should be given vitamin A supplements, whether or not they are thought to have a nutritional deficiency."