Are the ‘alternative’ measles treatments work?
As the measles outbreak in the United States becomes larger, the secretary of the HHS, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., promotes treatments without vaccines. But they generally do not help and can carry dangers
Measles continues to infect more people in the United States, with 935 cases reported until this weekend, in an outbreak that began in Texas and has spread to doses of other states. Among the 285 small children infected, 23 percent have had to be hospitalized. And 96 percent of all cases have occurred in people who have not vaccinated their legs or whose condition is unknown. When used, the measles vaccine avoids infection almost all the time. However, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has launched unfounded doubts about vaccine safety and has used a visit to Texas last week to promote three alternative treatments: antibiotics, inhaled steroids and vitamin A.
Why does it matter
“There is no effective measles treatment,” says Aniruddha Hacra, an infectious disease doctor at the University of Chicago Medicine. Measles vaccines prevent infection in 97 percent or cases. But the treatments that Kennedy usually supports children or adults to get rid of the virus themselves. Sometimes they are It is used to help tolerance complications that can occur with severe measles infection. But Kennedy’s statements that are effective measles treatments “are claims without data and, in the best case, true means,” says Hazra.
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What about vitamin A?
Among severely malnourished children in developing countries, vitamin A supports the immune system. This can help them fight a measles infection. The World Health Organization says that two doses of vitamin supplements about two days can help prevent ocular damage in measles people who have vitamin deficiency. But most children in the US do not have this severe nutritional deficiency, says Hazra, so vitamin A does not provide an additional layer of protection. And large supplementary amounts can be toxic when a prolonged period is last; They can cause liver damage, harmful liquid pressure against the brain and other problems.
What’s wrong with enabled steroids?
Kennedy highlighted the Budesonid inhaled steroid drug, which is used to reduce swelling on the respiratory tract of people with asthma. “These drugs work suppressing the immune system,” says Hazra. “Frankly, in measles, they can be dangerous, they can exacerbate viral infection,” since they suppress the immune cells that the body uses to combat viruses.
Why not use antibiotics?
Antibiotic clarithromycin is sometimes used to treat bacterial pneumonia. This infection can coincide with severe measles, and in such cases, doctors will use clarithromycin against bacteria. But antibiotics only work in bacteria, not virus, so they will not fight measles infection itself. And many hospitalized measles patients never develop this type of pneumonia.
What follows?
Last week, Kennedy announced that the US disease control and prevention centers immediately to look for new measles treatments. He made the point that the government should help people who don’t want vaccines more. “I think it is a great idea to develop new therapies. We have no good antiviral treatments,” says Hazra. “But it will be really difficult for CDC to do this due to all the great staff and budget cuts that Kennedy has promulgated in the agency.” In addition, he says, such measles development seems to be a loss of money and resources because medicine already has an approach that is 97 percent effective: measles vaccines.
