Chicken pox virus
An outbreak of chickenpox has been confirmed in Delmar, Del., affecting children with the highly contagious disease at Delmar Middle and High School.
Five cases of chickenpox, which is spread through coughs or sneezes of infected individuals or from direct contract with secretions from the rash, have been reported to date.
"Public Health says you have to have five cases in a cluster and that’s considered an outbreak," Dr. Carol Owens, a public health physician, told WMDT.com.
"If you are exposed to those secretions, sneezes, coughs or touching secretions you can develop chicken pox," Owens said. "You can also develop it by touching the secretions that are in the blisters or in the chicken pox lesions."
Typically, the duration for chickenpox lasts from four to seven days in children with new blisters subsiding after the fifth day. In young children, chickenpox is milder.
Precautions are being taken by the schools, which have told all infected students to stay at home and notified parents of the outbreak.
If vaccinations are given to students three to five days after exposure, a full-blown case of chickenpox can be prevented. Adults are also at risk even if exposed to the disease before. Additionally, it raises the chances of getting shingles.
