To the editor: Thanks for your reporting and attempt at education (“Immune amnesia: Why even mild measles infections can lead to serious disease later,” April 1). It must help, even if some refuse to see or learn. When I researched my dad’s immigrant family in a north German archive, I was stunned reading through the Sterberegister, the death registry, from the late 1800s. So many infants and young children, many with the notation, “Ges. an Masern.” Died of measles.
Bob Wieting, Simi Valley
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To the editor: Oh, just once, I wish the L.A. Times would try to instill some sense of calm in parents who are in knots over the measles outbreak. The Centers for Disease Control and the New England Journal of Medicine both offer advice on how to alleviate a bad case of measles. Under a doctor’s supervision, Vitamin A, given in specific doses and duration to young children, can decrease severity of disease in some cases. If only The Times would take the time to verify the veracity of the above, this paper could tamp down the anxiety that your front-page article seems to be ratcheting up.
Jill Chapin, Santa Monica
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To the editor: We eliminated measles in 2000. Why not take the vaccine and eliminate measles forever? Instead, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plays around with treatments like Vitamin A, the steroid budesonide, the antibiotic clarithromycin and cod liver oil. Doctors say that this messaging might take away from efforts to increase vaccination and some misinformation about these therapies is already circulating online.
Richard A. French, Pasadena
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To the editor: The number of unvaccinated kids is alarming. The parents of any unvaccinated child who tragically dies of measles should be criminally prosecuted for child abuse and manslaughter. The stupidity of parents should not be visited upon their innocent children.
Mel Frohman, Los Angeles
