More children residing in Olds and area were suspected of contracting chicken pox last week.
Absenteeism climbed at Ecole Olds Elementary since a letter dated Oct. 15 was sent to parents.
“Alberta Health Services (AHS) suspects that there have been an increased number of chicken pox cases in students at Olds Elementary School,” begins the letter, attributed to AHS public health communicable disease control nurses.
The nurses advised that in most cases, symptoms of the infectious disease caused by the varicella virus occur 10 to 21 days after contact with an infected person.
AHS said it is important that if chicken pox is contracted, that it be reported to a public health nurse at the local Community Health Centre.
Didsbury's elementary school has also been dealing with increased cases of chicken pox as well.
Dr. Richard Musto, medical officer of health for the Calgary zone, said that in the past, chicken pox was considered “a benign rite of passage in childhood.”
Now though, Musto said the medical community has found that chicken pox can actually lead to pneumonia, bacterial infections, and even a kind of streptococcal infection.
“So it is a disease that we have targeted in Canada and elsewhere for prevention by vaccination,” he said.
“We do encourage parents to vaccinate their children, because it's more than an inconvenient infection.
“It can cause ear infections, it can cause pneumonia and for newborns who are exposed via siblings, or an unvaccinated pregnant woman also could become quite sick with it, especially towards the end of the pregnancy.”
He noted that the single most effective preventive measure is to simply get vaccinated.
“It's not 100 per cent effective,” he added, “so you will still have children that might get infected after exposure, but generally the course of their illness is much shorter, so it's still a benefit.”
Several parents have reported chicken pox in vaccinated children both in Olds and in Didsbury.
Effectiveness of vaccine can wane with time, advise the AHS communicable disease control nurses in the Oct. 15 letter to elementary school parents, but it almost always prevents severe disease.
Severe disease and complications can occur in healthy people and more often in pregnant women, newborn babies, teenagers, adults and persons with a weakened immune system.
A person with chicken pox is most contagious one to two days before the rash appears and remains contagious until all spots have formed scabs, according to the nurses.
“If they feel well enough, children can return to school even if they still have a rash. They have already exposed their classmates before they developed the rash so there is no benefit to keeping them home once the uncomfortable symptoms have subsided,” states the AHS letter to parents.
- With files from Kevin Vink
