Riverside County Health

Riverside County will begin issuing photo identification cards to local medical marijuana users today, the first Southern California county to comply with a state law intended to shield medical patients from arrest. "The county is trying to comply with the law approved by the voters and develop a procedure that'll do that," said Marion Ashley, Riverside County Board of Supervisors chairman. "This will probably remove the anxieties ...

Riverside County will begin issuing photo identification cards to local medical marijuana users today, the first Southern California county to comply with a state law intended to shield medical patients from arrest. "The county is trying to comply with the law approved by the voters and develop a procedure that'll do that," said Marion Ashley, Riverside County Board of Supervisors chairman. "This will probably remove the anxieties ...

Federal technicians were doing lab work Wednesday to determine if hantavirus killed a woman who had cleaned up a mountain cabin she planned to buy. Results were expected this week, said Mark Lohman, spokesman for the Riverside County coroner. Donna Lynch, 44, of Hemet died at a hospital in her hometown Friday just hours after coming down with a cough and vomiting.

A Hemet woman who died in June after cleaning a mountain cabin was the victim of a heart condition and was not afflicted by hantavirus as initially suspected, Riverside County officials said Wednesday. Donna Lynch suffered from inflammation of the heart muscle caused by an unknown infection, said Sheriff's Sgt. Mark Lohman. Authorities are no longer investigating the case and do not consider hantavirus to be a threat in the area.

Officials in Riverside are trapping mosquitoes along the Santa Ana River to determine how many are carrying encephalitis. State health officials notified the Northwest Mosquito Abatement District that the St. Louis encephalitis virus was found in blood samples taken from a chicken kept by the district. Additional blood samples will be drawn to determine if any other chickens are carrying the mosquito-spread virus, district manager L. Lino Luna said.

A Hemet woman who died in June after cleaning a mountain cabin was the victim of a heart condition and was not afflicted by hantavirus as initially suspected, Riverside County officials said Wednesday. Donna Lynch suffered from inflammation of the heart muscle caused by an unknown infection, said Sheriff's Sgt. Mark Lohman. Authorities are no longer investigating the case and do not consider hantavirus to be a threat in the area.

A persistent measles epidemic that has gripped the Southland and other regions of California since late 1987 flared anew in January, claiming six lives and prompting some experts to warn that an end to the outbreak is nowhere in sight. The surge in measles cases comes after several counties experienced a lull late last year that gave many health officials hope that the stubborn epidemic might be subsiding.

The measles epidemic that has plagued Southern California since late 1987 has dramatically worsened, with Los Angeles County and the Inland Empire, the hardest-hit areas, reporting many more cases during the first three months of 1990 than in all of 1989. Dramatic increases in measles cases have also been registered throughout the Central Valley and in San Diego County, and a measles outbreak has developed in Alameda County in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Laboratory tests have determined that something other than hantavirus killed a Hemet woman who died after cleaning a mountain cabin, authorities said Thursday. Blood tests on the body of Donna Lynch, 44, proved negative for the virus, authorities said. An autopsy was planned for Thursday night, said Mark Lohman, spokesman for the Riverside County coroner. Because the cause of Lynch's death was unclear, pathologists planned to wear airtight suits and take extra security precautions, he said.

The hike is long and dusty, across two miles of shrub-strewn desert, south of Apple Valley. But Lisa Fernandez, a Web designer and hot springs enthusiast, has often made the trek from the trail head to the pools of steaming water. She believes the payoff is worth it: a day of soaking in undeveloped, natural hot springs in the shade of pine and willow trees at the foot of the San Bernardino Mountains.

Laboratory tests have determined that something other than hantavirus killed a Hemet woman who died after cleaning a mountain cabin, authorities said Thursday. Blood tests on the body of Donna Lynch, 44, proved negative for the virus, authorities said. An autopsy was planned for Thursday night, said Mark Lohman, spokesman for the Riverside County coroner. Because the cause of Lynch's death was unclear, pathologists planned to wear airtight suits and take extra security precautions, he said.

Federal technicians were doing lab work Wednesday to determine if hantavirus killed a woman who had cleaned up a mountain cabin she planned to buy. Results were expected this week, said Mark Lohman, spokesman for the Riverside County coroner. Donna Lynch, 44, of Hemet died at a hospital in her hometown Friday just hours after coming down with a cough and vomiting.

The measles epidemic that has plagued Southern California since late 1987 has dramatically worsened, with Los Angeles County and the Inland Empire, the hardest-hit areas, reporting many more cases during the first three months of 1990 than in all of 1989. Dramatic increases in measles cases have also been registered throughout the Central Valley and in San Diego County, and a measles outbreak has developed in Alameda County in the San Francisco Bay Area.

A persistent measles epidemic that has gripped the Southland and other regions of California since late 1987 flared anew in January, claiming six lives and prompting some experts to warn that an end to the outbreak is nowhere in sight. The surge in measles cases comes after several counties experienced a lull late last year that gave many health officials hope that the stubborn epidemic might be subsiding.

An outbreak of measles with unusually harsh early symptoms, which have sent several victims to hospitals, has been reported by Riverside County authorities. Since early September, 53 suspected cases of rubeola or red measles have been reported. Most of the cases have been children ages 2 through 12, said Dr. Richard C. Thorson, the county's disease control chief. Rubeola measles is more severe than rubella or German measles and can cause severe complications and even death in younger children.