SCIENCE / MEDICINE : Vitamin A Used Against Measles

High doses of Vitamin A dramatically reduced the duration of measles and cut the death rate by more than half in a group of children suffering from a severe form of the highly contagious disease, South African researchers said last week. Measles kills about 2 million children a year, especially in developing countries, despite vaccines that could prevent the viral disease.

In the United States, the incidence of measles is skyrocketing, increasing 423%, from 3,411 cases reported in 1988 to 17,850 cases in 1989, according to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.

In the new study, 189 children admitted to the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital in Rondebosch were randomly assigned to receive either 400,000 units of Vitamin A or a dummy capsule five days after the meales rash appeared. The children on Vitamin A recovered more rapidly from pneumonia and diarrhea and were less hoarse. Ten of the 12 children who died did not receive Vitamin A. Overall, the risk of death or a major complication during the hospital stay was half that of the control group, the study said.

The authors of the new study recommend that all children with severe measles should be given Vitamin A supplements, regardless of whether they are deficient in the vitamin.