CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : FRESNO : 8 Hmong Children Killed by Measles

A measles outbreak has killed eight Hmong children in Fresno, spurring research to discover why the disease is hitting those Southeast Asian immigrants so hard. All eight deaths have occurred since Jan. 1 and compare with just one measles death in the county last year, also a Hmong youngster. To date, 61% of the county’s measles cases in 1990 have been among Hmong children, with Latinos accounting for 26%. The death rate among Hmong children in Fresno is more than 10 times higher than for other groups, said Dr. Loring Dales, chief of immunization for the state Department of Health Services.