LA County measles outbreak said to spread among Jewish day schools

The measles outbreak that has sickened 20 people in Southern California started circulating in the Jewish community and struck at least two Jewish day schools in Los Angeles County, according to the head of a Jewish health care organization. 

Dr. Jeffrey Gunzenhauser, interim health officer for the L.A. County Department of Public Health, would only say that most of those who got sick are teenagers or young adults from one social group living in L.A. County's 3rd supervisorial district, which stretches from the ocean to Los Feliz and from Venice to San Fernando.

But a press release from Bikur Cholim, a Jewish health care foundation, said that Dr. Franklin Pratt, medical director of Public Health's immunization program, reported during a Jan. 9 teleconference that the measles "first presented in the L.A. Jewish community and associated day schools."

Bikur Cholim President Rabbi Hershy Ten said the measles had struck "at least two" Jewish day schools.  He said he could not disclose the schools' names or locations.

KPCC was unable to reach Pratt for comment.

In a statement, Public Health said "there is no compelling public health reason" to provide details on who was infected or where. "We can say that the outbreak has largely been limited to unvaccinated people in a single social group and the disease is spreading among personal contacts in the group," it said, adding that "there have been no infections spreading in the general community."

Eighteen people in L.A. County have contracted the highly contagious virus since early December, according to Gunzenhauser. None of them could provide proof of vaccination, he said.

Two other people have been sickened, one in Santa Barbara County and one in Ventura County.

Judaism unequivocally supports vaccination, said Ten, adding that misinformation spreads among all types of communities.

"You'll always find pockets within communities that would be categorized as 'anti-vaxxers,' that will not vaccinate their children," Ten said. "Why these individuals have embraced a belief that is today … not based on science or medicine, I can't speak to."

This isn't the first measles outbreak to circulate among the Jewish community. In 2013, 58 people in two Brooklyn neighborhoods – all members of the Orthodox Jewish community - contracted the measles, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. None of the people sickened had proof of vaccination, although the CDC notes that community's high vaccination rate likely limited the scope of the outbreak.

More than 2,200 people could have been exposed to measles during this outbreak, when the sick people visited health clinics or emergency departments, Gunzenhauser said.

He said the health department worked with the facilities to contact these people, a little under 10 percent of whom were not vaccinated against measles. The department is monitoring those who were unvaccinated to see if they develop symptoms.

Unvaccinated people who are exposed to measles can gain some protection against the virus by getting vaccinated within 72 hours or receiving immune globulin within six days of exposure, according to the CDC.

Measles was declared eradicated from the United States in 2000, so health officials don't know if the first patient contracted the virus through international travel or from someone here.

This is the first measles outbreak in L.A. County since the one that began at the Disney theme parks in Dec. 2014, which officials believe began with someone who brought the disease back from abroad. By the time that outbreak was contained in April 2015, the California Department of Public Health had confirmed 136 cases statewide. 

That outbreak shined a light on low vaccination rates in some communities, as the state reported that at least 57 of those infected were not vaccinated against measles. It also spurred the passage of a state law that eliminates parents' right to opt out of vaccinating their children due to personal or religious beliefs.

As the measure moved through the legislature, it drew angry opposition from vaccination skeptics and those who object to the federal government's vaccination schedule. After Gov. Brown signed it into law, it survived a court challenge. The legislation took effect this school year.

The law only applies to kids entering school for the first time – including those starting day care or kindergarten, or those who are new to the state – and kids entering seventh grade. It grandfathers in students who are already enrolled in school and already have vaccine exemptions based on personal beliefs or religion – at least until they reach seventh grade.

Bikur Cholim is encouraging Jewish day schools to adopt a vaccination law that is stricter than the state's, according to Ten.

After the Jan. 9 teleconference, which included more than 70 Jewish day school faculty and synagogue rabbis, "many of the schools left the teleconference with a strong commitment to changing policies," he said.

People with measles typically develop a fever, runny nose, cough and a rash all over the body. In some people, measles can cause pneumonia, encephalitis or death.

The highly contagious disease can live for up to two hours on a surface or in the air in an area where an infected person coughed or sneezed.

If one person has the disease, 90 percent of the people close to that person who are not immune will also become infected, according to health experts. A person can develop measles up to 21 days after being exposed to someone else who has the disease.

Infected people are usually contagious from four days before they develop a telltale rash to four days afterward.