The mixture continues to spread throughout the United States, because the plague grows in West Texas and New Mexico.
Between the two states, 256 cases were confirmed on Thursday, most of those who were not vaccinated or with unknown vaccination status, according to state health officials. At least one school -age child who is not vaccinated in Texas has died and other suspected deaths are being investigated in New Mexico in adults who are not vaccinated. At least 10 other states also confirm the case, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
When health care professionals work to treat patients, they also try to fight the proliferation of wrong information about how to prevent and treat this disease, some told ABC News.
Secretary of Health and Humanitarian Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. It has become one of the leading voices about measles, making comments that according to public health experts are inaccurate.
In some interviews, Kennedy has claimed that vitamin A and COD liver oil are effective treatment for measles. He also said that a bad diet contributes to severe and while vaccines prevent illness – they also cause severe illness and even death.
Some public health experts told ABC News, this statement was not rooted in scientific evidence and could be very dangerous for the public.
“I think it is very important to try to stay away from the ideas or ideas that have not been scientifically proven,” Kirsten Hokeness, Director of the School of Health and Behavior at Bryant University, at Rhode Island, told ABC News.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Testifying before the confirmation of the Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee (Assistance) Senate at Capitol Hill in Washington, 30 January 2025.
Nathan Howard/Reuters
Vitamin A as a form of treatment
During an interview at Fox News with Sean Hannity on Tuesday, Kennedy said that HHS currently provides vitamin A for measles patients for treatment. He claimed that vitamin A could “dramatically” reduce measles death.
World Health Organization recommend Two doses of vitamin A in children and adults with measles to restore low levels of vitamin A, which can help prevent eye damage and blindness.
However, experts who spoke with ABC News said that it was not an antivirus treatment for measles (meaning that it did not prevent infection), nor was there anything available.
“Because it has been explained that patients with vitamin A deficiency can have a more severe course, WHO recommends low -dose vitamin A for children diagnosed with measles,” Dr. Carla Garcia Carreno, a specialist infectious diseases of children in Plano Medical Plano children in Texas, told ABC News. “This is a supplementation if there is a deficiency, and is not intended to treat viruses. High doses of vitamin A can have serious consequences.”
“Both vitamin A and COD liver oil will not treat measles,” he concluded.
Bad diet related to severe measles
Kennedy has claimed that poor nutrition plays a role in causing severe measles and a healthy diet can reduce the severity.
While malnutrition can be a factor in severe illness, nutritional deficiencies and nutritional deficits in measles patients historically seen in underdeveloped countries, according to experts.
Besides that, Studies have found Mass nutritional supplementation “followed by an increase in vaccination coverage” can reduce infection and measles death.
“Of course, good nutrition can promote a healthy immune system, and that is a good idea for everyone to try to maintain good nutrition, but of course it is not a substitute for vaccination,” Dr. Scott Weaver, Director of the Institute of Human Infection and Immunity in the Medical Branch of Texas University, told ABC News. “There is no evidence that it can prevent infection, there is no evidence that it can prevent infected people from spreading viruses and contribute to one of these plague.”
“So, I want to be very clear, good nutrition is not a replacement for vaccination to prevent one’s own risk to develop severe, perhaps fatal, measles,” he added.
Claims about the safety of measles vaccine
CDC at this time recommend That people receive two doses of measles, gumps, rubella vaccine, the first at the age of 12 to 15 months and the second is between 4 and 6 years.
One dose is 93% effective, and two effective doses 97%, said CDC. Most vaccinated adults do not require booster.
Measles boxes and bottles, goiter, rubella virus vaccine in the vaccine clinic installed by the Lubbock community health Ministry, on March 1, 2025, in Lubbock, Texas.
Picture of Jan Sonnenmair/Getty
Kennedy said the vaccine “stopped the spread of disease” but also said they caused “side effects.”
“That causes death every year. This causes all measles diseases themselves [causes]Encephalitis and blindness, etc., “he told Hannity, without providing evidence.
Weaver said there were no vaccines without risk but the MMR vaccine was very safe and effective.
“There is no evidence that he has severe results … similar to what is caused by a measles virus infection,” he told ABC News. “This can of course cause a very small reaction at the injection site, like almost every vaccine, but it is one of the safest vaccines ever developed.”
Weaver added that the risk of complications from measles infection is far greater than the risk of the MMR vaccine.
The unfounded Kennedy claim that the MMR vaccine causes death, a 2015 CDC review Published in the vaccine journal found such claims were deaths reported to the reporting system of the US Vaccine loss – Voluntary Reporting System “which received reports submitted about bad events without assessing its clinical significance or whether it was caused by vaccination.”
A review found that many deaths reported to Vaers who claimed to be related to MMR including children who had a medical condition that underly underly or suffered deaths that were not related to vaccines, including accidental deaths.
“This complete Vaers report and accompanying medical records, autopsy reports and death certificates have been reviewed in depth by the FDA and CDC doctors and no patterns arise that will suggest a causal relationship with the MMR vaccine and death,” the review stated.
Questioning the ‘benefits’ of measles and mortality rates
Kennedy claimed in an interview with Senior Fox News Medical Analyst Dr. Marc Seigel during the “almost impossible” measles to kill healthy individuals.
Some people who are infected with measles may suffer Severe complications as a result of infection. While those who are the most risky including children who are younger than the age of 5 years, people and those who have a weak immune system, anyone can experience complications.
About in 1 in 5 people who are not vaccinated infected measles treated in hospitals and about 1 in 20 children with measles experiencing pneumonia, which is the most common cause of death in infected children.
About one in 10 children infected with measles developing ear infections as well, which can cause hearing loss, data shows.
In addition, about 1 of every 1,000 children with measles will experience encephalitis – which is a swelling of the brain and can cause brain damage – and up to 3 of every 1,000 measles with measles will die due to respiratory and neurological complications, CDC said.
A sign seen outside the clinic with the South Plains community health district, on February 23, 2025, in Brownfield, Texas.
Julio Cortez/AP, File
Recently, Texas health officials reported the death of a school-age child who was not vaccinated, the first death of measles recorded in the US in a decade. The child is healthy and has no existing conditions, said officials.
“CDC estimates that 1 in 5 people [who] Infected with measles ended in the hospital, “said Hokeness.” So, this approach to rely on a kind of natural immunity does not make sense when we have a vaccine that prevents it in the first place. “
“But, in short, it is truly no benefit to the idea of this immunity and naturally obtaining a virus. That is why we have developed a vaccine that works very well,” he added.
Kennedy also claims in his interview that the natural immunity from measles can protect from cancer and heart disease. There is no evidence that suggests one of them is true, the experts said.
“If you want to take risks by getting a natural infection, hope there may be some very small benefits for it, it is a very large risk to take, because you might get a severe measles infection,” said Weaver.
Overall, experts suggest relying on medical information that is proven scientifically.
“We must take advantage of the knowledge we have gained for years and not spend time we focus on alternative possibilities,” he said.