Causes, Risk Factors, And Complications Of Measles

Vitamin A Deficiency

In individual who has a vitamin A deficiency is at a higher risk of becoming infected by the measles virus if they are unvaccinated. A lack of vitamin A can come from a diet that doesn’t contain enough of it, or from any one of numerous other diseases that causes an inability to absorb this vitamin from food, including celiac disease, Crohn's disease, cystic fibrosis, bile duct obstruction, giardiasis, and cirrhosis. This type of deficiency commonly occurs in low-income countries where protein-energy malnutrition, intestinal worms, and intestinal infections are prevalent. Vitamin A is important for the body to be able to fight off measles because it plays a critical role in the integrity of the mucosal tissues in the nose, mouth, and other organs in the body. In order for the mucus in the nose, mouth, and intestinal tract to be able to eradicate infections effectively, adequate amounts of vitamin A must be present. Individuals deficient in vitamin A have a lower resistance of their epithelial tissues to foreign pathogens. Because measles is contracted through and colonizes in the mucosal tissues, an individual with an immune weakness in these tissues is more susceptible to contracting the virus.

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