Texas Doctor Urges Public Not To Hold “Measles Parties”

The idea of infectious disease “parties” has been around for a while – if you grew up before the chickenpox vaccine was widely available, then you may well have heard of or even been to a “pox party”. These gatherings might involve socializing, but the point isn’t supposed to be having fun with friends; it’s to deliberately expose unvaccinated children to an infected child with the aim that the rest will contract it and thus gain immunity.

It’s not known whether any such gatherings have taken place when it comes to the current measles outbreak – but Dr Ron Cook, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center’s Chief Health Officer, warned in a February 28 press conference that to hold them would be a “foolish thing”.

“What I want you to hear is it’s not good to go have measles parties, because what may happen is we can’t predict who is going to do poorly with measles, being hospitalized, potentially get pneumonia or encephalitis, or potentially pass away from this,” said Cook.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 1 to 3 of every 1,000 children infected with measles will die from complications such as those mentioned by Cook. An unvaccinated child in Texas recently died after contracting the disease, the first measles death in the US since 2015.

To prevent measles, Cook said: “The best thing to do is to make sure you’re well-vaccinated.”

The CDC states that the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine is both safe (it doesn’t cause autism, despite what some have claimed) and the best way to prevent measles; with one dose, it’s 93 percent effective at doing so, and 97 percent effective with the full two-dose schedule.

During the press conference, Cook also warned against taking large amounts of vitamin A.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr recently wrote an opinion piece for Fox News in which he claimed that vitamin A can “drastically reduce measles mortality.” While he also mentioned the importance of vaccination (something of a backtrack – Kennedy Jr has previously been outspoken in his anti-vaccination views), some have taken this as an implication that vitamin A is also a preventative measure against measles.

While there is a body of research that suggests vitamin A can be helpful for children with severe measles, there is a lack of evidence to support that it has any role in preventing the disease.

“In fact, relying on vitamin A instead of the vaccine is not only dangerous and ineffective, but it puts children at serious risk,” Sue Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said in a statement, per the Washington Post.

Taking huge doses of vitamin A can also be dangerous. In adults, it can lead to acute vitamin A toxicity, or hypervitaminosis A, which has symptoms including severe headache, nausea, vertigo, and lack of coordination. In severe cases, it can be fatal. Large amounts of vitamin A during pregnancy can also lead to birth defects.

The content of this article is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.