News From Terre Haute, Indiana

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What is Chickenpox?

Chickenpox is a very contagious disease caused by the varicella-zoster virus which causes rash, fever and fatigue.
• It is usually a mild childhood rash illness, but can cause serious complications, including pneumonia, encephalitis (inflammation of the brain tissue) or viral meningitis, which is inflammation of the fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord.
• It can also cause bacterial skin infection or even death, especially for adults or people with weakened immune systems.
• The virus is spread by coughing or sneezing or direct contact with respiratory droplets from the infected person.
• A person is considered highly contagious for at least two days before the rash appears and until the rash has scabbed over or faded.
• At risk are people who have not had two doses of chickenpox vaccine or have not been previously diagnosed with a case of chickenpox.
• Infants under 1 year old and people over 15 years old have a greater risk for complications associated with chickenpox.
• Preventing chickenpox is done through two does of a varicella vaccine. The vaccine can lessen symptoms and prevent the disease if given within five days of exposure.
• Once a person has chickenpox, treatment focuses on relieving the systems of the illness.
Source: Indiana State Department of Health

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October 19, 2012

Vigo to immunize students today against chickenpox

Howard Greninger The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE — Students at Farrington Grove Elementary this morning will receive vaccinations in an effort to curtail a chickenpox outbreak declared by the Vigo County Health Department earlier this week.

The county Health Department will hold a clinic at the school from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

Vigo County School Corp. officials prepared letters that were sent home Thursday with students to obtain permission from a parent or guardian for the vaccination.

“We are going to send out a couple of staff members [to the school] in case kids show up without a parent permission. We will go to the child’s house and knock on the door and get that parent permission if needed,” said Ray Azar, director of student services for the school corporation.

“We are going over and beyond just to try to make sure that kids are not excluded from school,” Azar said.

Any student that does not attend the clinic, such as being absent from school, the school corporation “will direct them to the Vigo County Health Department,” Azar said.

If parents or guardians do not want their child to be immunized, the child will be excluded from the school.

“We would make efforts to send [school] work home and ask the parent to help get that complete. We would have to get a clearance from the Health Department to go ahead and bring the student back to school. A lot of this is things we can’t control.

“We have never been there with that and we will do the best we can to make sure the kids get an education,” Azar said.

“We would like to have parents either show up with their child or send the permission with the child, depending on the age of the child. That is why we are opening early in the morning,” Azar said.

Based on immunization records, “there are 52 children who have to be immunized with an original or a second dose” of a chickenpox vaccine, said Joni Wise, administrator of the Vigo County Health Department.

Wise said all except one of the 52 children have already received the first vaccination. Students are not required to get the second vaccination until prior to entering middle school.

Azar said there are “less than 10 staff” who would be required to get a vaccine as a precaution.

“Anyone born before 1980, the State Department of Health is not concerned with because most people born before that year have already had [chickenpox],” Wise said.

Farrington Grove Elementary has been classified as an outbreak because it has five or more cases of confirmed chickenpox  involving children under the age of 13. An outbreak is also declared when three or more cases are confirmed for children older than 13.

Vigo County currently has the only outbreak of chickenpox in the state, said Ken Severson, spokesman for the Indiana Department of Health.

Reporter Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com.

 

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