Chicken Pox prevention requires two shots

Chicken pox is a childhood disease that most children suffer few major problems from. But for babies, adolescents, adults, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems, this childhood disease can be severe.

The severe problems can include:

• Dehydration

• Pneumonia

• Bleeding problems

• Brain infection or inflammation

• Bacterial infections of the skin and soft tissues in children including Group A streptococcal infections

• Blood system infections (sepsis)

• Toxic shock syndrome

• Bone infections

• Joint infections

• Death

Classic chicken pox symptoms include:

• Red, itchy rash that usually starts on the face, chest, and back then spreads to the rest of the body

• Fluid-filled blisters, resulting from the rash, that break and crust over

Chicken pox is very contagious. People who contract it and don’t have a severe case will usually have to miss 5-7 days of work or school. The people who have a severe case will be out longer.

The best protection is the chicken pox vaccine, known as the varicella vaccine. This vaccine is a live (attenuated) virus administered to protect against chicken pox. The vaccine cannot be given to pregnant women or people who have a weakened immune system. Individuals who have had the vaccine can still contract chicken pox, but the case will usually be milder with fewer blisters and little or no fever. The vaccine is safer than chicken pox.

Before the vaccine, chicken pox was more common in the United States. About 4 million people would get it each year. Out of those people, 10,500 to 13,000 of them were hospitalized and 100 to 150 people died because of chickenpox each year. Fewer people each year contract chicken pox due to access to a vaccine.

Talk to your healthcare provider about getting your child the varicella vaccine.

Registered Nurse Diane Dorwart at the Sidney immunization clinic, stated that two doses of the chicken pox vaccine are required before a child can enter a Nebraska school. The first dose is given to a child who is between 12 and 15 months of age, and the second dose is given when the child is age four to six. People who have the varicella vaccine are resistant to shingles later in life.

The Sidney immunization clinic is open on the second Tuesday of each month from 9 a.m. until p.m. and it is open from noon until 4 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday.

For more information, call the Sidney clinic at 308-254-4355.

Or visit http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/vis/downloads/vis-varicella.pdf

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/varicella/default-basic.htm