Campus Outbreak Is 1st of Year : Free Measles Shots Offered at UCSD

The first recorded outbreak of measles in San Diego County this year has prompted county health officials to provide free inoculations at UC San Diego today, a UCSD spokesman reported.

Six students from the same college dormitory appear to have rubeola, or red measles, UCSD news bureau director John Nunes said Tuesday.

Free vaccines will be dispensed from 2 to 4:30 p.m. at the Mission Crossroads conference room on the east end of the campus.

Sandy Ross, immunization project coordinator for the County Department of Health, said measles outbreaks occurred on campuses across the United States last year and three students died of the disease. The incubation period for the illness is two to three weeks.

“Graduation is planned for May 25, with finals before that. It is likely that students who have been exposed may becoming ill at that time without inoculation,” Ross said.

She added that measles has been a problem on college campuses over the last few years because many students born in the late ‘60s were either inoculated too young or received a serum that was later found to be defective.

Measles can result in loss of hearing, measles encephalitis, pneumonia and brain damage.