Vitamin A for the Management of Measles in the United States
Patricia Stinchfield, Walter A. Orenstein
Abstract
Abstract Measles is an acute, highly contagious disease that results from infection with the measles virus and is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Vitamin A has been recommended for decades by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization to manage measles in hospitalized children. However, recent studies show that vitamin A has not been used appropriately to treat US children with measles—either by not using vitamin A at all or by using insufficiently low doses. In November 2019, the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases convened a summit that included multidisciplinary subject matter experts from across the United States to discuss the use of vitamin A in US measles management. The resulting Summit recommendations include that all children in the United States presenting with measles should receive an age-appropriate dose of vitamin A as part of a comprehensive measles management protocol. Multiple studies in populations in which vitamin A deficiency is prevalent have shown that this simple, quick means of improving vitamin A status can dramatically reduce the risk of serious complications and death from measles, with minimal detectable incidence of adverse effects.