Measles: 10 cases in Colorado cost >$490,000
Washington Post - Aug 24, 2026
- a total of 10 cases involving nine children and one adult — it nevertheless consumed 6,785 hours of labor by state and local workers to track and snuff out the outbreak after exposed individuals traveled through grocery stores, schools, fast-food restaurants and more.
Vitamin A treats Measles
Claude AI - Aug 2026
The protocol (WHO / AAP): oral vitamin A once daily on two consecutive days, dosed by age — 50,000 IU under 6 months, 100,000 IU at 6–11 months, 200,000 IU at 12 months and older. A third dose 2–4 weeks later if there are eye signs of deficiency. Two doses matter: a single dose showed no mortality reduction, while two doses on consecutive days cut mortality in children under two (RR 0.21) and reduced croup (RR 0.53) Cochrane CD001479.
Days saved — from the landmark South African RCT of 189 hospitalized children with complicated measles (median age 10 months), given 400,000 IU total:
- recovery from pneumonia averaged 6.3 days vs 12.4 on placebo,
- diarrhea 5.6 vs 8.5 days,
- croup in 13 vs 27 cases, and
- fewer days in hospital [Hussey NEJM 1990].
So roughly 6 days off pneumonia, 3 days off diarrhea, ~4 days off the hospital stay, plus mortality 2/92 vs 10/97.
Hospital or home? It's oral and cheap, so it can be given anywhere measles is diagnosed — clinic, ER, or at home under a doctor's direction. Historically the US only gave it to hospitalized infants, but a 2019 NFID expert summit recommended that all US children presenting with measles receive an age-appropriate dose, after finding most US children were getting only 10,000 IU instead of the recommended 100,000–200,000 IU [Infect Dis Clin Pract 2020].
Two caveats: The mortality benefit is concentrated in vitamin A–deficient populations and children under two, and it's treatment, not prophylaxis — during the 2025 Texas outbreak several children arrived with abnormal liver function from parents giving daily high-dose vitamin A as prevention.
No indication that Colorado used Vitamin A