44 develop the pox, all but 2 vaxed

January 21, 2006

Chickenpox strikes Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau

schoolchildren

Published - Friday, January 20, 2006

By Fiecke / Winona Daily News

http://www.winonadailynews.com/articles/2006/01/20/news/03pox.txt

An outbreak of chickenpox in the

Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau School District

that has affected 36 percent of the district's

kindergarteners has health

officials mystified.

Since mid-November, 44 grade-schoolers have

developed the pox. All but two

were vaccinated. The outbreak began at the

Kindernook Learning Center -

where 36 of 99 kindergarteners developed the

virus - and it spread to

siblings in other buildings.

The Wisconsin Department of Health and Family

Services is trying to find

out why so many vaccinated students developed

chickenpox, when health

experts rate the vaccine from 85 to 97 percent

effective.

" We're way above the 15 percent, " G-E-T school

nurse Barbara Hogden said.

Dan Hopfensperger, director of the Wisconsin

Immunization Program, said

this is the state's largest outbreak he can

recall among vaccinated children.

The only other similar case occurred at a Dane

County school in 2003, where

slightly fewer students were affected.

Hopfensperger said the state never

determined a cause there.

So far there's no apparent cause of the large

number of G-E-T

" breakthroughs " - term for a vaccinated person

who still develops chickenpox.

Hogden said the vaccine is fragile and must be

stored frozen. She said the

infected students obtained vaccinations from a

number of different providers.

Hopfensperger said there have been no reportsof a

bad batch of vaccines

from the manufacturer.

Only one case of the chickenpox at G-E-T cannot

be traced back to the

kindergarten building, Hogden said, and that

student was not vaccinated.

Wisconsin began requiring all kindergarteners be

immunized for chickenpox

in 2001. This was the first year all

schoolchildren had to be vaccinated or

have had the virus unless a parent requested an

exemption based on health

reasons or personal convictions.

The number of reported cases has fallen in

Wisconsin from 5,157 in 1996 to

487 in 2005.

Minnesota requires four grades of students to be

immunized but will expect

all students to be in compliance by 2010, unless

they have an exemption.

Winona Area Public Schools head nurse Mitzi

Girtler said she isn't aware of

any students who've developed chickenpox in the

district this school year.

Why be immunized?

The chickenpox vaccine is the best way to prevent

chickenpox and almost

always prevents severe complications and death

associated with the disease.

How effective is the chickenpox vaccine?

About 8 to 9 out of every 10 people who are

vaccinated are completely

protected from chickenpox. If a vaccinated person

does get chickenpox, it

is usually a very mild case with fewer skin

lesions (usually less than 50)

lasting only a few days, no fever or a low fever,

and few other symptoms.

Source: Information from the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention.

Reporter Fiecke can be reached at (507)

453-3519 or

shannon.fiecke@....

's Little Sister ISBN 1-4137-1724-1

Wanna know my latest praises and gripes? Check out my blog

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January 22, 2006

In a message dated 1/21/2006 12:23:56 PM Central Standard Time,

fightingautism@... writes:

Chickenpox strikes Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau

schoolchildren

WOW....................Imagine my surprise when I read this email. I live in

Galesville and it has been the " talk of the town. "

Rumors have been floating but nothing concrete has turned up. Thankfully

none of my grandchildren are at the mentioned school.

Grandma Beth

January 23, 2006

You know, my dd was born in '95. When she was a toddler, her Ped asked if

we would like to have her vaccinated against chicken pox.

He said the vaccine had been around for over 20 years (even way back then it

wasn't new), but it was only offered for children who really had to have it

because they had compromised immune systems and their lives would actually be

threatened by chicken pox, kids in chemotherapy for instance. He said that

it had only recently been made available to the general public, and it was

just a convenience if I'd like my daughter vaccinated so I wouldn't need to

worry about missing a bunch of work to stay home with her if she caught it.

You can imagine my amusement, when in the past few years chicken pox

suddenly became a killer disease from which our children had to be protected at

all

costs by mandatory vaccination.

How the story has changed!

Sandi (Allie's Mom)

Houston

In a message dated 1/23/2006 12:37:18 PM Central Standard Time,

amnestyb@... writes:

My grandmother almost died of chicken pox as an adult, which is one

reason I DIDN'T want my son vaccinated. I know the vaccine is too new,

and too untrustworthy. I was afraid if we vaccinated him, and then he

was exposed later, he would face more serious complications. It is

always worse in older people.

Fortunately, it turned out to be a non-issue with him...he was exposed

to chicken pox at 6 months old, at daycare, from 5 kids who got the

chicken pox, all of them besides him had been vaccinated. One was

vaccinated and then, from the vaccine, able to spread it to the others.

Which only strenghtened my resolve that he NOT have the vaccine. His

ped (who we left shortly after this) still wanted to vaccinate! Of

course, she argued the whole vaccinating on my schedule too. Among

other things. We've been through a number of them, but I like his

current dr, finally

Amnesty

>

> I know people with chicken pox can have serious complications, I guess

> since 2 of mine already have it I can only think, " What's the big

> deal, they itch a few days and get on with life... " Of course, I'm

> sure a mom whose child suffered complications wouldn't see it so

simply...

>

> Debi

>

Autism_in_Girls-subscribe

------------------------

Autism_in_Girls-unsubscribe

January 23, 2006

I know people with chicken pox can have serious complications, I guess

since 2 of mine already have it I can only think, " What's the big

deal, they itch a few days and get on with life... " Of course, I'm

sure a mom whose child suffered complications wouldn't see it so simply...

Debi

January 23, 2006