19/02/2025
https://www.facebook.com/100049680654059/posts/1196308758701801/?
‼️An important reminder that while vitamin A can play a supportive role in treating measles, it is absolutely not a substitute for vaccination. This distinction is critical, as some have dangerously misinterpreted studies about vitamin A's benefits during measles infection. When properly dosed in infected patients, vitamin A treatment can help reduce the severity of complications and improve survival rates - but this only comes into play after someone has already contracted this highly contagious virus.
What makes the MMR vaccine so remarkable is that it prevents infection in the first place, with over 97% effectiveness. Think of it this way - would you rather have protection against getting measles at all, or risk contracting a dangerous disease that could require hospitalization and then hope treatment helps reduce complications? In the United States, about 1 in 5 people who get measles will require hospitalization. Measles can lead to serious complications including pneumonia, encephalitis (brain swelling), and in some cases, death. The math is simple: preventing measles through vaccination is far safer than relying on treatments after infection occurs.
Sources:
https://www.nfid.org/what-you-should-know-about-measles-and-vitamin-a/
https://academic.oup.com/ije/article/39/suppl_1/i48/699532
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7076287/
