Dear Parents and Guardians,
One of the students in your child’s class has been diagnosed with chickenpox and is under the care and treatment of their health care provider.
General Information
Chickenpox (Varicella) is a relatively common childhood illness and is highly contagious. People who are not immune to the disease usually develop symptoms 10 days to 3 weeks after the exposure. Chickenpox is contagious for a few days before the rash appears and for 5-7 days after the spots appear. A chickenpox vaccine is available for children and adults who have not had the illness. This vaccine will lower the risk of becoming ill with chickenpox. A small percentage of vaccinated persons may still get chickenpox, but it is usually a very mild case lasting only a few days and involving fewer skin lesions (usually less than 50, which may resemble bug bites more than typical, fluid-filled chickenpox blisters), mild or no fever, and a quicker recovery. Talk with your health care provider about the vaccine or contact Public Health if you or your children have not had the disease.
The Illness
Symptoms of chickenpox usually start as a cold, cough, fever and often include abdominal pain. Within a few days a pimple-like rash appears. The eruptions can occur anywhere on the body and evolve from clear blisters to crusted spots. The rash of chickenpox is very itchy. With the vaccine, the rash may not evolve to clear blisters and may not be itchy.
Treatment
Treatment of chickenpox is symptomatic, often using acetaminophen (“Tylenol”) for relief of fever, oral diphenhydramine (“Benadryl”) and oatmeal baths for the itching. It is important that children do not receive aspirin with viral illnesses like chickenpox because the use of aspirin has been shown to cause a serious disease called Reye’s syndrome in children. You should call your health care provider if your child has any other worrisome symptoms beyond the mild fever and annoying itching normally associated with the disease. If caught early, varicella vaccination can shorten the duration and severity of chickenpox—contact your health care provider if you would like to more information about this.
School Exclusion
Children may return to school when all of the spots have scabbed over (7-10 days), or 24 hours after the last new lesion has appeared (usually about 5 days) if they have a mild case with 50 or fewer non-typical lesions, as described above, that may occur in vaccinated persons.
Please let me know if you have any questions about chickenpox or any other health concerns that may affect your child.
Sincerely,
Moose Pass School Staff
Moose Pass School Secretary-907-288-3183
District Nurse Supervisor-Lori Chikoyak- LChikoyak@KPBSD.k12.ak.us