County Seeks State Funds for Measles Vaccinations : Epidemic: Supervisors approve a Declaration of Public Health Hazard in asking $300,000 to fight the disease.

In the latest effort to combat Los Angeles County’s worst-ever measles epidemic, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a Declaration of Public Health Hazard that allows the county to request $300,000 from the state for broadened immunization measures.

Officials from the county Department of Health Services said they will seek funds from the state Department of Health Services to increase vaccine supplies, maintain extended clinic hours for immunization and expand media and community outreach efforts.

John Dunajski, the assistant chief of California immunization for the state health department, indicated that the request would be viewed favorably. “Los Angeles County is definitely an applicant that will be seriously reviewed. I’m sure they will receive some funding,” he said in a telephone interview. “The state did make available $1.2 million for immunization programs.”

The county measles outbreak this year has struck 1,500 people and killed six, including four under age 15, officials from the county Department of Health Services said. This contrasts with a reported 1,202 cases and 17 deaths last year. Two people died of measles in 1988.

More than 1,800 cases of measles have been reported statewide this year, including 24 deaths, Dunajski said.

“Obviously, the disease is going at a much greater rate than last year,” county health department Director Robert C. Gates said.

Insufficient funding has hamstrung past attempts to curb the disease, health officials said.

“Basically, it’s been a continuous outbreak since 1987,” said Dr. Stephen Waterman, chief of the health department’s communicable disease control unit. “It is the longest-running measles outbreak in the country, unfortunately.”

Measles, also known as red measles or rubeola, is among the most contagious viruses. It usually starts with coughing and a high fever and can cause dehydration, diarrhea or inflammation of the brain. Although the disease usually disappears after about five days, measles can kill if unchecked.

After the unanimous approval of the declaration Tuesday, Supervisor Kenneth Hahn urged the director of the county Department of Health Services to provide measles immunizations at all of its 42 health centers.

“We are having the worst measles epidemic in the history of the county,” said Hahn, who represents the county’s 2nd District. “We should insist that the health department open up all of its clinics every night and on Saturdays so our children and babies will get prevention. It’s a deadly disease that is at epidemic proportions.”

Twenty-three of the clinics now offer vaccinations, Gates said.

“We have already opened up many of our clinics” to those seeking immunizations, he said, “but whether each and every one of them should be open is something I’ll have to look into.”

Gates and Waterman said many of the clinics are located in areas of the county hit hardest by the epidemic, such as South-Central Los Angeles, El Monte and East Los Angeles.

Many of these areas will also be focal points for the county’s latest anti-measles campaign, Waterman said.

“We’re pulling together billboards and posters, many of them in Spanish,” the physician said. “Many of the people hit by the disease are Latinos.”