Measles continues to spread throughout the United States, as shoots grow in western Texas and New Mexico.
Between the two states, 256 cases have been confirmed until Thursday, mainly in those who are not vaccinated or with an unknown state of vaccination, according to state health officials. At least one school -age child not vaccinated in Texas has died and another death suspicion in New Mexico is being investigated in an uncomed adult. At least another 10 states have also confirmed cases, according to centers for disease control and prevention.
As health professionals work to serve patients, they are also trying to combat the proliferation of erroneous information on how to prevent and treat the disease, some tell ABC News.
The Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has been one of the highlights in measles, making comments that public health experts say they are not precise.
In multiple interviews, Kennedy has affirmed that vitamin A and cod liver oil are effective measles treatments. He also said that bad diet contributes to severe measles cases and that, while vaccines prevent diseases, also cause serious diseases and even death.
Some public health experts told ABC News that these statements are not rooted in scientific evidence and that could be quite dangerous to the public.
“I think it is really important to try to stay away from these ideas of marginal theories or ideas that have not been scientifically proven,” Kirsten Hokeness, director of the School of Health and Behavioral Sciences of the University of Bryant, told ABC in Rhode Island.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies before a confirmation hearing of the Senate Health, Work, Labor and Pensions Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, on January 30, 2025.
Nathan Howard/Reuters
Vitamin A as a form of treatment
During an interview in Fox News with Sean Hannity on Tuesday, Kennedy said that HHS was currently providing vitamin A to patients with measles to receive treatment. He said that vitamin A can “drastically” reduce measles deaths.
The World Health Organization recommended Two doses of vitamin A in children and adults with measles to restore low levels of vitamin A, which can help prevent damage or blindness and blindness.
However, experts who spoke with ABC News said it is not an antiviral treatment against measles (which means that it does not prevents infections), there is nor an available.
“Because it has been described that patients with vitamin A deficiency may have a more serious course, WHO recommends low doses of vitamin A for children diagnosed with measles,” Dr. Carla García Carreno, a specialist in pediatric infectious diseases at the Children’s Medical Center in Texas, told ABC News. “This is a supplementation in case of deficiency, and is not intended to treat the virus. The high doses of vitamin A may have serious consequences.”
“Neither vitamin A nor cod liver oil will treat measles,” he concluded.
Poor diet linked to a severe measles disease
Kennedy has affirmed that poor nutrition plays a role in the cause of severe measles disease and that a healthy diet can decrease gravity.
While malnutrition can be a factor in serious illness, malnutrition and nutritional deficits in measles patients have historically observed themselves in underdeveloped countries, according to experts.
Besides, Studies have found This nutritional supplementation of mass “followed by an increase in vaccination coverage” can reduce measles infection and mortality.
“Certainly, good nutrition can promote a healthy immune system, and it is a good idea that everyone tries to maintain good nutrition, but it is certainly not a substitute for vaccination,” said ABC News, director of Dr. Scott Weaver, director of the Institute of Human Infections and immunity of the Branch of Medicine of the University of Texas. “There is no evidence that infection can prevent, there is no evidence that you can prevent an infected person from spreading the virus and contributing to one of these outbreaks.”
“Therefore, I want to be very clear, good nutrition is absolutely no substitute for vaccination to prevent someone’s risk of developing severe measles, perhaps fatal,” he added.
Claims on the safety of the measles vaccine
CDC currently recommended That people receive two measles doses, papers, rubella vaccine, the first at the ages of 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years.
A dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective, says CDC. Most vaccinated adults do not need reinforcement.
Boxes and vials of measles, paper, vaccine against rubella virus in a vaccine clinic placed by the Lubbock Department of Public Health, on March 1, 2025, in Lubbock, Texas.
Jan Sonnenmair/Getty Images
Kennedy has said that vaccines “stop the spread of the disease”, but also said they cause “adverse events.”
“Cause deaths every year. Causes all diseases that undergo itself [causes]Encephalitis and blindness, etc. “He told Hannity, without providing evidence.
Weaver said there is no vaccine without risks, but that the MMR vaccine is incredibly safe and effective.
“There is no evidence that you have severe results … similar to what causes measles virus infection,” he told ABC News. “It can certainly cause very lower reactions on the injection site, like almost all vaccines, but it is one of the safer vaccines that have been developed.”
Weaver added that the risks of complications of a measles infection far exceed the risks of the MMR vaccine.
As for Kennedy’s unfounded statement that the MMR vaccine causes death, a CDC 2015 review Published in Vaccine magazine, he discovered that such claims are deaths reported to the US Vaccine Event Reports System. UU., A volunteer reports system “that accepts any report presented from an adverse event without judging its clinical importance or if it was caused by a vaccination.”
The review found that many of the deaths informed to the VAers who claimed to be linked to the MMR included children who have serious underlying medical conditions or who had deaths that were not related to the vaccine, including accidental deaths.
“These full reports of VAers and any medical record that accompanies, autopsy reports and death certificates have been reviewed in depth by FDA doctors and CDCs and no worrying patterns have emerged that suggest a causal relationship with the vaccine and death of MMR,” said the revision.
Question ‘benefits’ of measles and mortality rate
Kennedy said in an interview with Fox News Dr. Marc Seigel Senior analyst during the weekend that it is “almost impossible” that a healthy person matte a healthy person.
Some people who contract measles may suffer serious complications As a result of infection. While the most at risk include children under 5, pregnant people and those with weakened immune systems, anyone can experience complications.
Approximately 1 out of 5 non -vaccinated people who contract measles are hospitalized and approximately 1 in 20 children with measles develop pneumonia, which is the most common cause of death in young children who infect.
Approximately one in 10 children infected with measles also develop ear infections, which can lead to auditory loss, according to data.
In addition, approximately 1 in 1,000 children with measles will develop encephalitis, which is the swelling of the brain and can cause brain damage, and up to 3 out of every 1,000 children with measles will die from respiratory and neurological complications, says the CDC.
An outside a clinic with the Public Health District of South Plains is observed on February 23, 2025, in Brownfield, Texas.
Julio Cortez/AP, File
Recently, Texas health officials reported the death of a child not vaccinated in school age, the first death for measles registered in the United States in a decade. The child was healthy and had no pre -existing conditions, authorities said.
“CDC estimates that 1 in 5 people [who] Infecting measles ends at the hospital, “said Hokeness.” So, this approach to trust this natural immunity makes no sense when we have a vaccine that avoids it first. “
“But, in summary, there really is no benefit to this idea of natural immunity and naturally acquire the virus. That is why we have developed vaccines that work so well,” he added.
Kennedy also stated in his interview that the natural immunity from measles can protect against cancer and heart disease. There is no evidence to suggest that any of them be true, experts said.
“If you want to risk getting a natural infection, with the hope that there is a very small benefit in that, it is a very large risk, because you can get severe measles infection,” said Weaver.
In general, experts advised to trust scientifically proven medical information.
“We should take advantage of the knowledge we have acquired over the years and not spend our time focusing on alternative possibilities,” he said.
