Apparently children who have had good nutrition would just 'shrug it off' if they contracted measles. Why don't they say that in the UK?

[bumbleymummy]

Article is here discussing the impact that poor nutrition has on children in developing countries.

Considering that the majority of children in the UK have no problem with good nutrition (fruit shoots and Greggs aside ) why aren't parents being reassured rather than terrified into having their children vaccinated with images of coffins plastered over the promotional material?

"My, god, we have had a poster on here saying that she has seen numerous children in intensive care in the UK with measles who were not given short term high dosage vitamin A."

To be fair, I think she said that was per-Cochrane report. Does anyone know what happens now? Do children in hospital with measles routinely get vitamin A?

OK the other poster talked about pre-Cochrane. Cochrane was 2011.

Back we go round in circles. If they know that Vitamin A is beneficial in treating measles, why isn't it on leaflets now? Why is there at least one leaflet in circulation with an image of a coffin on? Are the DoH at all interested in public health, or are they just pushing a vaccine programme?

Curlew, why are you arguing, when you agree with Bumbley? Why make all the anti-vaccination smears when you hold the same views?

OK. The coffin was on one infographic from one health authority, and I think everyone agrees that it was ill judged.

Does anyone know if vitamin A is given to children in hospital with measles? I do think this is a crucial question.

It's one of them. There's also the dearth of advice and information for the general public on how Vitamin A can help prevent complications and death from measles. Why? That's a pretty crucial question. You are wrong to say everyone on this thread thinks the coffin is ill-judged. People have defended it.

But we have known that vitamin A saves children's lives since the 1930s and the poster was talking about children in 2007/8.

I do not understand how a doctor could not know that it was extremely likely that a child in intensive care with measles needed vitamin A. Honestly I think that is one of the most shocking things I have ever read on MN.

I don't know if it is current policy to administer vitamin A to hospitalised children. I hope so. Maybe if the DoH had a policy on communicating with parents about vitamin A, fewer children would end up in hospital though.

So here we are back to the subject of how negligent and unethical it is of the government to scare people about measles in order to market a vaccine, but fail to communicate on vitamin A which could save children from death and complications in order to market said vaccine .

So if you were writing a public information leaflet during a measles outbreak what would it say?

"Maybe if the DoH had a policy on communicating with parents about vitamin A, fewer children would end up in hospital though."

Ideally, what would you want them to say?

Ideally, what would you want them to say?

If you do catch measles, Vitamin A is shown to be beneficial in limiting complications.

Is that too difficult a statement to make? (Yes, if the aim is to push vaccines, because there is a tacit admission that vaccines might fail. No, if they are bothered about public health.)

That is already on the website, and if i think i have measles I will be seeking advice from my doctor.

Do you mean I should take it as a preventative measured urging an outbreak?

Measure, not measure.

During not urging

"If you do catch measles, Vitamin A is shown to be beneficial in limiting complications. "

How much?

How much?
How long is a piece of string?

If it were up to me it would say that measles used to be extremely common and that in those days, doctors and parents would routinely treat children with cod liver oil due to it being a good source of vitamin A which has been scientifically shown to reduce the risk of measles complications, improve immune function and help the body to fight virus replication.

Nowadays we are a lot less used to caring for children with measles and so, this once common knowledge is being lost and it is important to know about it in the eventuality of measles infection.

It would say that measles infection depletes vitamin A stores and that even well nourished healthy children can be vulnerable to measles induced deficiency (especially the under 2s) and that makes fighting the disease harder for the child and lays them open to being at risk for complications.

It would then talk about dosage, warn that it is possible to give too much vitamin A, give a web address for more comprehensive information and advise people to talk to their doctor.

Doctors should have an information pack on vitamin A and measles and they should liaise with the DoH and parents and make sure everyone is on the same page.

"How much?
How long is a piece of string?"

But surely if you're advising parents to give their children vitamin A, you need to say how much?

When was the link between vitamin A and measles made? I was given cod liver oil as a child, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't anything to do with measles?

I don't know, and it doesn't matter that I don't, because I am not the one dishing out the advice to parents. But HCPs should know and should be able to give advice, especially if the information has been around for more than 70 years.

The website already advises them to talk to their doctor, who can presumably give advice on vitamin a and other treatment as would be the case for any other illness.

And yet, some HCP's don't seem to know, despite the knowledge being around for 70 odd years.

This is interesting background reading. I particularly liked the sentence in the first paragraph about the pharmaceutical industry jumping on the bandwagon, even though trials were inconclusive. Seems nothing changes........!

Sorry if I'm asking you to repeat yourself, but how do we know they don't know?

On this thread we only have the word of one HCP who came on and didn't seem to know, and another person who quoted a friend as being scared of a measles outbreak and hadn't been told either.

Some will know, some won't, but there wasn't any publicity about Vitamin A during the South Wales outbreak - or at least I don't recall any. You might think there would have been when there was an epidemic.

I would only expect there to be publicity if it were thought advisable for people to maintain vit a levels during an epidemic incase they got measles. I wouldn't expect there to be general info about the treatment they would get from a doctor once they had measles, as they could get this information from the doctor.

I've just had a letter home from nursery to say there has been a case of measles. It includes a link to a page which also includes a link to another page that says:

^Vitamin A supplements have been shown in some studies to help prevent some of the serious complications arising from a measles infection, although it is not clear how they help.

Supplements may be recommended for children under two years old with severe measles, or for children with vitamin A deficiency (although this is rare in the UK).

You may wish to ask your GP about whether your child would benefit from taking vitamin A supplements^

Now I think, that if measles is serious enough to justify leaflets with pictures of coffins on, any treatment that helps to avoid the serious complications should be on the initial letter in bold something like

"GIVE YOUR CHILD A MULTIVITAMIN THAT CONTAINS VITAMIN A"

Not on a link of a link in the last paragraph. And I'd certainly rather not wait until someone had measles and discussed it with a GP.