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Aust

CDC

Cochrane

WHO

Aust Vitamin A for treating measles in children. National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia, 0200. rennie.dsouza@anu.edu.au CDC High dose vitamin A is indicated Severe measles cases among children, such as those who are hospitalized, should be treated with vitamin A. Vitamin A should be administered immediately on diagnosis and repeated the next day. The recommended age-specific daily doses are 50,000 IU for infants younger than 6 months of age 100,000 IU for infants 6–11 months of age 200,000 IU for children 12 months of age and older

Cochrane Vitamin A for measles in children Measles is caused by a virus and possible complications include pneumonia. Measles is a major cause of death in children in low-income countries and is particularly dangerous in children with vitamin A deficiency. Eight studies involving 2574 participants were included in this review and we found that there was no significant reduction in mortality in children receiving vitamin A. However, vitamin A megadoses (200,000 international units (IUs) on each day for two days) lowered the number of deaths from measles in hospitalized children under the age of two years. Two doses of vitamin A are not considered to be too expensive, and are not likely to produce adverse effects. The authors conclude that vitamin A megadoses appear effective in reducing mortality from measles in children under two years old and have few associated adverse events. There is insufficient evidence to draw conclusions regarding effectiveness in preventing pneumonia or other complications in children. However, the quality of the evidence was generally moderate. Better quality randomized trials are needed to evaluate the efficacy of Vitamin A for treating measles in children. WHO Vitamin A supplementation to improve treatment outcomes among children diagnosed with respiratory infections Biological, behavioural and contextual rationale WHO technical staff April 2011