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Source: http://www.wesh.com/news/18263141/detail.html
40 Students Infected With Chicken Pox
Outbreak Prompts Health Alert From Volusia Co.
POSTED: 8:58 am EST December 12, 2008
UPDATED: 2:53 pm EST December 12, 2008
PORT ORANGE, Fla. -- An outbreak of chicken pox at a local high school has prompted an alert from the Volusia County Health Department.
At least 40 students at Spruce Creek High School in Port Orange have come down with the highly contagious chicken pox infection, most of them ninth- and 10th-graders.
In just one day, 14 cases were diagnosed.
"Actually, I know, I think, two people and one guy is in my next class actually. He?s been gone for a couple of weeks," student Nikea O?Neal said.
School administrators said they took precautions immediately after learning of 10 cases of chicken pox at the school right before Thanksgiving. They sent a letter home with students and made phone calls to warn parents, but by Dec. 4, there were 27 cases of chicken pox.
With 40 confirmed cases, the Health Department stepped in, putting out a public health notice on how chicken pox spreads and what parents can do.
"Anyone who has not had overt disease, who?s been exposed, who?s not been vaccinated, should be," Dr. Sanford Zelnick of the Volusia County Health Department said.
Zelnick said chicken pox is uncomfortable because of the itchy rash, but typically benign, so children are not always immunized. The Center for Disease Control, however, recommends two vaccine doses, which clearly, many Spruce Creek students did not get.
"It?s important to remember that children should not be sent back to school unless all their lesions, these fluid-filled vesicles, have crusted over," Zelnick said.
Health officials expect to see new cases from the school for weeks with an incubation period of 10 to 21 days from contact. They warn anyone with immune deficiencies to stay away from infected students because chicken pox can affect their health far more dramatically.
40 Students Infected With Chicken Pox
Outbreak Prompts Health Alert From Volusia Co.
POSTED: 8:58 am EST December 12, 2008
UPDATED: 2:53 pm EST December 12, 2008
PORT ORANGE, Fla. -- An outbreak of chicken pox at a local high school has prompted an alert from the Volusia County Health Department.
At least 40 students at Spruce Creek High School in Port Orange have come down with the highly contagious chicken pox infection, most of them ninth- and 10th-graders.
In just one day, 14 cases were diagnosed.
"Actually, I know, I think, two people and one guy is in my next class actually. He?s been gone for a couple of weeks," student Nikea O?Neal said.
School administrators said they took precautions immediately after learning of 10 cases of chicken pox at the school right before Thanksgiving. They sent a letter home with students and made phone calls to warn parents, but by Dec. 4, there were 27 cases of chicken pox.
With 40 confirmed cases, the Health Department stepped in, putting out a public health notice on how chicken pox spreads and what parents can do.
"Anyone who has not had overt disease, who?s been exposed, who?s not been vaccinated, should be," Dr. Sanford Zelnick of the Volusia County Health Department said.
Zelnick said chicken pox is uncomfortable because of the itchy rash, but typically benign, so children are not always immunized. The Center for Disease Control, however, recommends two vaccine doses, which clearly, many Spruce Creek students did not get.
"It?s important to remember that children should not be sent back to school unless all their lesions, these fluid-filled vesicles, have crusted over," Zelnick said.
Health officials expect to see new cases from the school for weeks with an incubation period of 10 to 21 days from contact. They warn anyone with immune deficiencies to stay away from infected students because chicken pox can affect their health far more dramatically.