Local News in Brief : Measles Cases at School

Thirty-three of the 43 students and teachers at a Torrance high school who have been stricken with measles caught the disease despite being immunized against it, county Department of Health Services officials said Tuesday. Some of those who developed measles despite immunization may have received shots while they were between the ages of 12 and 15 months, officials said. Medical experts have concluded that the immunization is more effective after the age of 15 months.

In an audit of the records at South High School in Torrance and 13 other middle and high schools in the South Bay, officials found that 315 of the 11,219 students checked in the Torrance School District are not in compliance with measles immunization requirements. Those students have been ordered to stay out of school until two weeks pass without any new case of measles being reported. The last case was reported Dec. 18.

Measles symptoms include a rash, high fever, red or watery eyes, a cough and a runny nose.