High doses of vitamin A may be toxic, warns UVA Health's Blue Ridge Poison Center
Consuming too much vitamin A can cause a range of health effects, including liver damage.
Measles is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus. It spreads easily when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes. It can cause severe health complications, and even death, particularly in children. Symptoms may include a high fever, cough, runny nose and a rash all over the body.
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There is no specific cure for measles. Treatment primarily focuses on providing comfort and relief from the symptoms. Under the supervision of a healthcare provider, vitamin A may be given to boost the body's ability to fight infection, particularly in patients who are malnourished and may have a vitamin A deficiency. This has led to a misunderstanding that large doses of vitamin A can cure or prevent measles. This is not true, said UVA's Health's Blue Ridge Poison Center. People who try to treat themselves with vitamin A are at risk for hypervitaminosisA, or vitamin A poisoning.
Because vitamin A is fat soluble, the body stores excess amounts. If too much vitamin A is stored, it can become toxic.
Poison centers across the United States typically receive 400 to 500 calls per year related to vitamin A, and the Blue Ridge Poison Center is concerned that figure could increase this year, it said.
'When it comes to taking any medicine or supplement, including vitamins, more is not necessarily better,' said Christopher Holstege, medical director of UVA Health's Blue Ridge Poison Center. 'Unless a person has a diagnosed deficiency, or some other health condition, and a health professional has advised the extra supplement and is monitoring their care, taking doses of vitamins greater than the recommended daily amount can be harmful.'
According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the best protection against measles is the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. The MMR vaccine is safe and effective. Two doses of MMR vaccine are about 97% effective at preventing measles; one dose is about 93% effective.
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This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: High doses of vitamin A may be toxic, warns UVA Health's Blue Ridge Poison Center
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Newsweek
8 hours ago
- Newsweek
Maps Show States With Highest—and Lowest—Kindergarten Vaccination Rates
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revealed the states with the highest and lowest rates of vaccination coverage for multiple vaccines among kindergartners. Mississippi, New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island had the highest rates of vaccination among kindergartners across the board for the four vaccines: DTP/DTaP/DT, hepatitis B, MMR and polio, while Florida, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Minnesota and Wisconsin had some of the lowest rates. The DTP/DTaP/DT vaccine protects against diphtheria, a dangerous bacterial infection, while the hepatitis B vaccine protects against the liver infection. The MMR vaccine protects against measles, mumps and rubella—infections that can lead to serious complications—while the polio vaccine protects against the infection that can cause paralysis in severe cases. Newsweek has contacted the CDC via email for comment. Why It Matters Vaccine rates have been declining across the country, with all kindergartner coverage for the four vaccines, as well as the Varicella vaccine, having dropped since 2021. The shifting views on vaccines in recent years, which has gathered momentum after the appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services secretary, has sparked concern among health care professionals. Kennedy Jr., who has been vocal in his vaccination stance, has recently been directing the CDC to change its guidance, from no longer recommending certain vaccines to encouraging patient choice. A measles outbreak in Texas earlier this year drew particular attention to the issue. After being declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, experts pointed to the decrease in MMR vaccine coverage as the reason, with more than 700 cases reported since January. What To Know Nationwide, vaccination coverage declined among kindergartners in the 2024-25 school year across all vaccines, while exemptions from one or more vaccines among kindergartners increased. Exemptions increased across 36 states as well as Washington, D.C., with 17 states reporting exemptions exceeding 5 percent. The national average also increased to 3.6 percent from 3.3 percent the year before. The findings coincide with measles cases hitting a 33-year high last month, as reported by the CDC, with total cases this year at 1,333. Ninety-two percent of the cases were among unvaccinated people and those whose vaccine status was unknown. The states with the highest rates of MMR vaccine coverage were Mississippi, New York, California, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island—all of which had vaccine coverage higher than 95 percent among kindergartners. Idaho had the lowest MMR vaccine coverage at 78.5 percent. It was the only state to have a coverage lower than 80 percent. Alaska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kentucky and Georgia were also among the lowest. For the DTP/DTaP/DT vaccine, rates of coverage among kindergartners were highest in Mississippi, Louisiana, Virginia, Maryland, New York, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island—each with coverage rates over 95 percent. A map showing the DTP/DTaP/DT vaccine coverage among kindergartners in each state. A map showing the DTP/DTaP/DT vaccine coverage among kindergartners in each state. CDC Once again, Idaho had the lowest coverage rate—below 80 percent—with Indiana, Georgia, Kentucky and Wisconsin also at bottom end of the ranking. One state that was not previously in high rankings for vaccine coverage, but was for the hepatitis B vaccine, was Kansas, which showed a significant variation in the coverage between vaccines. A lot of the same states that had high rates of vaccine coverage for the DTP/DTaP/DT vaccine had high rates of coverage for the hepatitis B vaccine, and the situation was the same for the states with low levels of coverage. A map showing the Hepatitis B vaccine coverage among kindergartners in each state. A map showing the Hepatitis B vaccine coverage among kindergartners in each state. CDC For the polio vaccine, the rankings were similar to that for the DTP/DTaP/DT vaccine. There are many reasons for variations between vaccine coverage in states, one being that states that have only medical exemptions for vaccines tend to have higher rates of vaccine coverage, Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center and an attending physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, told Newsweek. Meanwhile, states that also allow for "philosophical exemptions or religious exemptions" as well as medical exemptions have lower rates of vaccine coverage, enabling more constituents to opt not to have a given vaccine. Also, states have different rules on which vaccines they mandate. While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) licenses a vaccine and the CDC recommends it, it's up to the state to decide to mandate it, Offit said. "So that's why there would be differences, so some states may mandate the DTAP vaccine and other states not," he said. A map showing the Polio vaccine coverage among kindergartners in each state. A map showing the Polio vaccine coverage among kindergartners in each state. CDC Addressing why vaccine coverage has been going down in recent years, Offit said that there are many factors at play. One is that "there is much more misinformation and disinformation that is readily available," he said, pointing to various anti-vaccine advocacy groups and social media. "It's just very easy to get bad information out there and it's much harder to get good information," he said. Another factor is that vaccines may not only eliminate diseases, like measles, but also the "memory" of them, Offit said. "While we eliminated measles from this country by the year 2000, I also think we eliminated the memory of measles. I think people don't remember how sick, or dead, that virus can make you," he said. He added that for as long as people are "not scared of those diseases," they are not going to feel "compelled" to get the vaccines. Offit also said that "the pushback is understandable," given that parents are asked to get their children multiple vaccines throughout the first few years of their lives, with "as many as five shots at one time to prevent a disease most people don't see using biological fluids most people don't understand." What People Are Saying Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center and an attending physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, told Newsweek: "Already, you can see the decline in child health in the present. We have a measles outbreak that's bigger than anything we've had in 33 years. We've had three measles deaths in this country. That equals the total number of measles deaths in this county over the last 25 years. We've a healthy little 6-year-old girl and a healthy 8-year-old girl dying in West Texas. That's the first child death in the country since 2003, and that was an immuno-compromised child back then. We've had about 260 pediatric deaths from influenza. The last time we've seen a number that large was in 2009."
CNN
a day ago
- CNN
Record share of US kindergartners missed required vaccinations last year, ahead of surge in measles cases
A record share of US kindergartners had an exemption for a required vaccination last school year, and coverage for all reported vaccines – including the measles vaccine – was lower than the year before, according to new data published Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 3.6% of incoming kindergartners in the 2024-25 school year had an exemption for a required vaccine, leaving about 138,000 new schoolchildren without full coverage for at least one state-mandated vaccine, the new data shows. Exemptions jumped more than a full percentage point over the past four years, the CDC data shows, and the vast majority – all but 0.2% – were for non-medical reasons. About 286,000 kindergartners had not completed the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination series in the 2024-25 school year, as cases climbed this year to the highest they've been since the disease was declared eliminated in the US a quarter-century ago. MMR coverage dropped to 92.5%, marking the fifth year in a row that coverage has been below the federal target of 95%, according to the CDC data. The vast majority of this year's measles cases have been in unvaccinated children. 'Vaccination remains the most effective way to protect children from serious diseases like measles and whooping cough, which can lead to hospitalization and long-term health complications,' the CDC said in a statement. 'CDC is committed to working closely with state and local partners by providing tools, resources, and data that help communities promote vaccine access and awareness.' But the statement also echoed language that is often used by US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., saying that 'the decision to vaccinate is a personal one. Parents should consult their healthcare providers on options for their families.' Forty-five states allow religious beliefs to be used as a basis for a vaccine exemption for children beginning school, and 15 states allow exemptions for other personal or philosophical reasons, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. 'As pediatricians, we know that immunizing children helps them stay healthy, and when everyone can be immunized, it's harder for diseases to spread in our communities,' Dr. Susan Kressly, president of the AAP, said in a statement. 'At this moment when preventable diseases are on the rise, we need clear, effective communication from government leaders recommending immunizations as the best way to ensure children's immune systems are prepared to fight dangerous diseases.' This week, the organization reaffirmed its longstanding position that non-medical exemptions to school immunization requirements should be eliminated. 'The science behind vaccines demonstrates that the benefits greatly outweigh any potential risks,' said Dr. Sean O'Leary, a pediatric infectious disease specialist and chair of the AAP Committee on Infectious Diseases. 'There really aren't good reasons to opt out.' However, in the 2024-25 school year, vaccine exemptions increased in 36 states, according to the new CDC data. In 17 states, more than 5% of kindergartners had exemptions – meaning reminders from administrators to complete paperwork or doctor's visits won't be enough to raise coverage to the 95% goal for two doses of MMR vaccine set by HHS, a threshold necessary to help prevent outbreaks of the highly contagious disease. 'There are more and more states where even the potentially achievable coverage that we can get by catching everyone up who's overdue is getting lower and lower,' said Dr. Josh Williams, a pediatrician with Denver Health and associate professor at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. 'So we are now in a situation where in many states, and certainly in many communities within certain states, there's simply not enough herd immunity to protect against outbreaks of these vaccine-preventable diseases, especially measles.' In a study from 2019, Williams and fellow researchers found interesting patterns in vaccine exemptions: When both religious and personal belief exemptions are available in a state, religious exemptions tend to be low, but rates of religious exemptions increase significantly when the personal belief exemption goes away. 'That leads to the kinds of recommendations that you see from organizations like the AAP, basically saying it appears that these exemption policies are not really doing what they were intended to do, that people are kind of using these perhaps in the ways that they were not intended,' he said. Only five states limit vaccine exemptions to medical reasons, according to the AAP: California, Connecticut, Maine, New York and West Virginia. Numbers on MMR coverage in West Virginia were not available in the latest data from the CDC, but the four other states are among the small group of 10 states that reached the federal goal of 95% coverage among kindergartners. In 2023, a federal court paved the way for religious exemptions to be added to Mississippi school vaccination policy. Exemption rates immediately jumped in the state, and MMR coverage has dropped about 1 percentage point, CDC data shows. Overall, nationwide MMR coverage among kindergartners dropped from 92.7% in the 2023-24 school year to 92.5% in the 2024-25 school year, according to the CDC. Experts say that a change like this may seem small but can significantly raise risks. 'It's a small percentage point change that adds up if it happens year over year, and that is what we've been seeing,' Williams said, and the change isn't distributed evenly. 'Individuals who tend to refuse vaccines tend to cluster together. … It's probably that the areas where there have been low uptake now have even worse uptake, and the areas where there have been more reasonable uptake continue to stay reasonable.' The vast majority of measles cases reported in this record-breaking year have been concentrated in Texas. MMR coverage in the state has been trending down for at least the past decade, CDC data shows, with just 93.2% coverage among kindergartners. Exemptions have surged past 4% – well above the national rate – and a law passed by the state legislature this year would make it even easier to get an exemption. Starting in September, the affidavit form to file for an exemption will be available to print from the state health department's website, without the need to file a written request. There was a lot of testimony opposing this change, said Dr. Philip Huang, director of the Dallas County health department. 'We were making the point during the whole thing that there needs to be a consistent message of unequivocal support for vaccinations from the top,' he said. 'We're very concerned about what's happening with HHS and the messaging sort of undermining that.' Experts say that vaccines can sometimes be 'victims of their own success,' with people not realizing how much protection they offer until they see the suffering that can happen when they're not utilized. This year's measles outbreak – which has led to three deaths and dozens of hospitalizations, mostly among children – may raise the urgency around the need to vaccinate and help to start to turn the trend around, experts say. 'The declines that we're seeing for measles and for other vaccines are always concerning, but perhaps in the context of one of our larger measles outbreaks in recent memory, I think a lot of people have it in mind with returning to school this fall,' Williams said. 'In my clinical practice here in Denver, we are getting requests from families who are worried about measles transmission in school and in day care. We've had some families coming in who want to get that protection on board prior to the school year beginning to make sure that their child is going to be as protected as possible prior to going back to school this fall.' Williams says he likes to remind parents that most people support vaccination and that he works hard to gain the trust of parents who are hesitant. 'It's always good to remember that the vast majority of parents vaccinate their kids on time and according to the recommended schedule,' he said. 'When that's not true in a school or in a community, I think that's an opportunity for advocates to speak up and talk to other parents and be partners in the process of improving vaccine confidence.'
UPI
2 days ago
- UPI
Vaccination rates of U.S. kindergartners down, measles cases up
A MMR vaccine information packet is seen at City of Lubbock Health Department in Lubbock, Texas, in March. According to an update from the Texas Department of State Health Services on Friday, there was was an outbreak of measles in the South Plains region of Texas where 146 cases were identified as of late January. New CDC data shows that vaccination rates are down in the United States. Photo by Annie Rice/EPA-EFE July 31 (UPI) -- Vaccination rates among U.S. kindergarten students decreased during the 2024-2025 school year, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the District of Columbia. Rates ranged from 92.1% for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis to 92.5% for measles, mumps and rubella. Vaccination rates for polio and varicella dropped in more than half of the states compared to a year prior, the data show. "The number of kindergarteners attending school without documentation of completing the MMR vaccine series was about 286,000 during the 2024-2025 school year," the report said. Overall, the number of kindergartners exempt from one or more vaccines during the 2024-2025 school year reached nearly 138,000, the data showed. The drop in vaccination rates comes amid an uptick in the number of measles cases in the United States. There have been 29 reported outbreaks in 2025, compared with 16 in 2024. Of 1,156 cases reported so far this year, 87% of them have been confirmed, compared to 198 of 285 confirmed cases, or 69%, in 2024.
