“Measles and autism”

Carmel Pine Cone—May 2, 2025

Regarding your article about childhood measles (April 25), there are a few details that were missed. First, on the hospitalization rate, most children who are hospitalized are admitted for observation and isolation, to prevent them from spreading measles to others. Very few of them need oxygen or intravenous fluids, which are the usual reasons that we admit children to the hospital.

Second, there is simple outpatient treatment for measles, ordinary vitamin A, 200,000 units per day by mouth for two days (only). That is the treatment that hospitals use for children with measles, but it can easily be done at home. Since most of my patients are not immunized for measles, I advise them to keep vitamin A on hand for that possibility, although it should not be given when the child is well, as too much is harmful.

Third, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is now investigating the role of measles and other vaccinations as possible causes for the epidemic of childhood autism, which now strikes one in every 20 California 4-year-old children, and one in every 12 California 4-year-old boys, according to the most recent CDC data. Worse yet, not only has the prevalence of autism increased dramatically, but so has the severity of the cases. The rate of the most severe autism cases, with IQs less than 70, has risen from 25 percent of the total to 40 percent of the total over the past four years. Those children are classified as “intellectually disabled” and will never have more than a few dozen words, never be able to toilet themselves, and will need lifetime custodial care at enormous social and financial cost to both families and the public.

Richard B. Fox, M.D., Pacific Grove