{"id":720,"date":"2012-10-01T14:37:27","date_gmt":"2012-10-01T22:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communications.blogs.kpbsd.k12.ak.us\/wpmu\/?p=720"},"modified":"2012-10-01T14:37:27","modified_gmt":"2012-10-01T22:37:27","slug":"chickenpox-varicella-letter-to-kenai-peninsula-parents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kpbsd.org\/schools\/comm-test\/2012\/10\/01\/chickenpox-varicella-letter-to-kenai-peninsula-parents\/","title":{"rendered":"Chickenpox (varicella) letter to Kenai Peninsula parents"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Department of <\/strong>Health and Social Services<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

DIVISION OF PUBLIC HEALTH
\nSection of Epidemiology\u00a0
\n<\/span>3601 C Street, Suite 540
\nAnchorage, Alaska 99503
\nMain: 907.269.8000\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dear Parent,
\nSince Jan. 1, 2012, the Alaska Section of Epidemiology has recorded more than 50 confirmed and probable cases of chickenpox (varicella) statewide. Of the nine cases reported in September, all were among unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated children living in Homer and Soldotna. The six Homer cases occurred in three separate clusters involving several schools.
\nThis suggests that there is ongoing transmission in the wider community and that additional cases are likely to occur throughout the Kenai Peninsula.<\/strong>
\nThe Department of Health and Social Services recommends that all children become fully immunized against varicella. Older children and teenagers who were never fully immunized as a child should also be vaccinated. Being fully immunized against varicella not only protects you as a child, but also helps protect against shingles in teens and young adults. Being immunized also helps protect those members of our community who cannot be vaccinated.
\nParents are encouraged to check with their family primary care provider to ensure that their children are fully immunized.
\nThank you.
\nFrequently Asked Questions<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>
\nWhat is chickenpox?<\/strong>
\nChickenpox is a highly contagious disease caused by the varicella virus, a member of the herpes virus family.
\nHow is chickenpox spread?<\/strong>
\nChickenpox is transmitted to others by direct person to person contact, by droplet or airborne spread of secretions from an infected person’s nose and throat or indirectly by contact with articles freshly soiled by secretions from the infected person’s lesions. Transmission can also occur from touching or breathing virus particles from an infected person\u2019s blisters.
\nWhat are the symptoms of chickenpox?<\/strong>
\nInitial symptoms include sudden onset of slight fever and feeling tired and weak. This is soon followed by an itchy blister-like rash. The blisters eventually dry, crust over, and form scabs. The blisters tend to be more common on covered than on exposed parts of the body. They may appear on the scalp, armpits, trunk, and even on the eyelids and in the mouth. Mild or unapparent infections occasionally occur in children. The disease is usually more serious in adults than in children.
\nHow soon do symptoms appear?<\/strong>
\nSymptoms commonly appear between 10-21 days (usually ~14-16 days) after exposure to someone with
\nchickenpox or shingles (herpes zoster).
\nWhen and for how long is a person able to spread chickenpox?<\/strong>
\nA person is most able to transmit chickenpox from 1-2 days before the onset of rash until all lesions have crusted. People who are immune compromised may be contagious for a longer period of time.
\nDoes past infection with chickenpox make a person immune?<\/strong>
\nChickenpox generally results in lifelong immunity. However, the virus can remain hidden and recur years later as shingles in a proportion of adults and even in older children.
\nWhat are the complications associated with chickenpox?<\/strong>
\nNewborn children (less than one month old) whose mothers are not immune and patients with leukemia may suffer severe, prolonged or fatal chickenpox. Immune compromised patients, including those on immunosuppressive drugs, may have an increased risk of developing a severe form of chickenpox or shingles. Reye’s Syndrome has been a potentially serious complication associated with clinical chickenpox involving those children who have been treated with aspirin. Aspirin or aspirin-containing products should never<\/span> be given to a child with chickenpox.
\nThe CDC has more information about chickenpox complications: http:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/chickenpox\/about\/complications.html<\/span><\/a>
\nIs there a vaccine for chickenpox?<\/strong>
\nYes. The chickenpox vaccine is recommended as a two-dose series. The first dose is given between 12-15 months and the second (booster) dose typically given between 4-6 years. The state of Alaska requires two doses of vaccine for entry into grades K-6.\u00a0 See http:\/\/www.epi.alaska.gov\/bulletins\/docs\/b2012_06.pdf<\/a> .
\nWhat can a person or community do to prevent the spread of chickenpox?<\/strong>
\nThe best method to prevent further spread of chickenpox is for people infected with the disease to remain home and avoid exposing others who are susceptible. They should remain home until one week after the skin eruption began or until the lesions become dry and crusted. \u00a0Pay particular attention to avoiding unnecessary exposure of non-immune newborns and immune compromised people to chickenpox.
\nI have heard about \u201cchickenpox parties\u201d to give everyone the disease so they have natural immunity.\u00a0 Is this a good idea?<\/strong>
\n\u201cChickenpox parties\u201d were a common practice in previous generations.\u00a0 Public health experts strongly recommend against this practice now that there is effective vaccine available and much better knowledge about potential serious complications of chickenpox.\u00a0 For more information about risks, we recommend this site: http:\/\/www.immunizationinfo.org\/issues\/exposure-parties\/chickenpox-parties<\/span><\/a>
\nWhere can I go for more information?<\/strong>
\nThe CDC has an excellent website for the general public: http:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/chickenpox\/index.html<\/a> .\u00a0 You can also refer to http:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/vaccines\/pubs\/pinkbook\/downloads\/varicella.pdf<\/a> (\u201cThe Pink Book\u201d) for more detailed scientific information for public health personnel.
\neptember 2012 Letter to Parents, and more at\u00a0KPBSD Health Services links<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Department of Health and Social Services\u00a0 DIVISION OF PUBLIC HEALTH Section of Epidemiology\u00a0 3601 C Street, Suite 540 Anchorage, Alaska 99503 Main: 907.269.8000\u00a0 Dear Parent, Since Jan. 1, 2012, the … Continue reading “Chickenpox (varicella) letter to Kenai Peninsula parents”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":126,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[220,323,377,515,1083],"class_list":["post-720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-release","tag-chickenpox","tag-department-of-health-and-social-services","tag-epidemiology","tag-immunization","tag-varicella"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpbsd.org\/schools\/comm-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpbsd.org\/schools\/comm-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpbsd.org\/schools\/comm-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpbsd.org\/schools\/comm-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/126"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpbsd.org\/schools\/comm-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kpbsd.org\/schools\/comm-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpbsd.org\/schools\/comm-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpbsd.org\/schools\/comm-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpbsd.org\/schools\/comm-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}