Long Beach : Measles Epidemic Ends but Tuberculosis Cases Increase

A measles epidemic that caused outbreaks of the disease to increase ninefold in a single year is officially over in Long Beach, although an epidemic of tuberculosis persists, city health officials announced this week.

Declaration of the measles health hazard in April, 1990, made the city eligible for emergency state funds that helped establish 65 special immunization clinics in the hardest-hit areas of Long Beach. Clinics also were set up at local schools and neighborhood centers. Each reported case was investigated to minimize further spread, officials said.

As a result, there have been 43 cases of measles in the city so far this year, less than half of the 96 cases reported for the same period in 1990, officials said.

Immunization clinics still operate five days a week at the Health Department’s Pine Avenue facility. Health officials say they are continuing to battle an increase in tuberculosis cases, which numbered 41 from Jan. 1 through the end of May this year, compared to 34 for the same period in 1990.