Shots may hurt, but they can prevent a patient from catching flu and measles, public health officials say. FILE PHOTO
Measles infections and deaths caused by influenza are on a sharp rise in California, according to the California Department of Public Health
In Riverside County, five cases of measles have been reported since this time last year and 15 people younger than 65 were killed by the flu, the department announced Friday, March 14.
The cases are part of a statewide trend that has seen flu deaths in 65-and-younger patients rise from 14 to 332 and measles infections rise from three to 32 in the last year, according to the releases.
These diseases are easily preventable by vaccinations, and people with a lack of or insufficient vaccinationsÂ are contributing to the problem, according to Barbara Cole, the director of disease control for the Riverside County Department of Public Health.
"If someone's been vaccinated and are then exposed to (the diseases) they don't usually catch it," she said.
About 95 percent of students who gets a single MMR vaccination, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella, will be immune to the diseases. About 99 percent of students who get two MMR vaccines will be immune.
Two MMR shots are required to enroll a student in kindergarten, but the schools will make exceptions for students with religious or medical contraindications.
Statewide, seven of the measles patients were intentionally unvaccinated, according toÂ Dr. Gil Chavez, the state departmentâ€™s deputy director and state epidemiologist.
No data were available on whether vaccination rates have dropped within the last year.
Cole was unable to say in which cities the measles infections happened, but said they were in the southwest area of the county and they were all related.
At least three infections were recorded at Crowne Hill Elementary School in Temecula
, Cole said in February.
Thirty-two measles cases have been reported in California so far this year. The breakdown, by county: