Two chickenpox outbreaks reported in two southern Michigan counties since the beginning of the year has prompted health officials to urge vaccination against the viral disease.
Seven cases of chickenpox have been reported to the health department’s St. Joseph County office this past week. In January, the Michigan Disease Surveillance System confirmed seven cases in Hillsdale County. Most of these cases involved school-age children.
According to Michigan law, all students are required to be immunized with two doses of Varicella (Var) vaccine or have had a history of chickenpox disease.
Children who have not been vaccinated and have not had the disease should be vaccinated immediately with the first dose of Varicella (VAR). Once the first dose has been administered, the child can receive a second dose at the following recommended minimum interval: For children 12 months to 12 years – 2nd dose should be administered at 3 months; For children 13 years and older – 2nd dose should be administered in 28 days.
If an outbreak of chickenpox occurs in your child’s school, and your child is not immunized or does not have verification of having had the disease, your child will be excluded from school until he/she receives the first dose of varicella vaccine. If you choose to not immunize your child at all (and you cannot verify that he/she has had the disease) and an outbreak of chickenpox occurs, your child will be excluded from school for up to 21 days after the last reported case of chickenpox.
Children who are not fully immunized, meaning they have only had one dose of the Varicella vaccine or do not have verification of having had the disease, should be vaccinated immediately. If an outbreak of chickenpox occurs in your child’s school, your child will be excluded from school until the second dose is administered.
Chickenpox is a common, usually benign childhood disease caused by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV), a member of the herpes family. This virus causes two distinct diseases; varicella (chickenpox) is the primary infection, and later when VSV reactivates,herpes zoster (shingles).
Chickenpox is highly contagious and is spread by coughing and sneezing, by direct contact and by aerosolization of the virus from skin lesions. You can also get it by contact with the vesicle secretions from shingles.
The disease is characterized by fever and a red, itchy skin rash of that usually starts on the abdomen, back or face and then spreads to nearly all parts of the body. The rash begins as small red bumps that appear as pimples or insect bites. They then develop into thin-walled blisters that are filled with clear fluid which collapse on puncture. The blisters then breaks, crusts over, and leaves dry brown scabs.
What is smallpox and how does the clinical presentation differ from chickenpox?
The chickenpox lesions may be present in several stages of maturity and are more abundant on covered skin rather than exposed. Lesions may also be found in the mouth, upper respiratory tract and genitals.
Chickenpox is contagious from 1-2 days before the rash forms and continues until all the lesions are crusted over (usually about 5 days).
This disease is more serious in adults than in children. Complications of chickenpox are rare, but includepneumonia, encephalitis and secondary bacterial infections.
Infection with this virus usually gives lifelong immunity, although second attacks have been documented in immunocompromised people. The viral infection remains latent, and disease may recur years later as shingles.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the chickenpox vaccine is the best protection against chickenpox. The vaccine is made from weakened varicella virus that produces an immune response in your body that protects you against chickenpox. The chickenpox vaccine was licensed for use in the United States in 1995.
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-“The clinical course in healthy children is generally mild, with malaise, pruritus (itching), and fever up to 102°F for2–3 days. Adults may have more severe disease and have a higher incidence of complications.” CDC. Varicella.The Pink Book, 12th Edition (2012).
“According to Michigan law, all students are required to be immunized with two doses of Varicella (Var) vaccine or have had a history of chickenpox disease.”
Michigan continues to allow for exemptions. A parent has to submit to a boring yet aggressive lecture by a health dept employee who will ridicule and bully the parent into not taking a vaccine exemption for their child. At the end of this abusive procedure designed to intimidate, the parent is asked if they still want the exemption and if so is given the necessary paperwork to have put on file. Parents who are subjected to this intimidating and bully approach are asked to contact their state representative with a complaint.
Two things about the Chicken Pox vaccine that the CDC hasn’t told the public:
1.The vaccine virus sheds for up to 6 weeks and longer in immunocompromised individuals. It states immunocompromised individuals are at risk for infection from viral vaccine shedding. A study in Pediatrics stated in 2011- 1 Child in 6 is Chronically Ill. (Trends in the Prevalence of Developmental Disabilities in US Children, 1997–2008) Meaning 1 Child in 6 is immunocompromised. That’s a lot of children who can become infected and than are contagious.
2. The CDC has not alerted the public to the increase in Shingles not only in adults but also in children. Something unheard of before the vaccine went into circulation.
Brief Summary of Chickenpox: A New Epidemic of Disease and Corruption
http://www.vaccinationcouncil(dot)org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Goldman-SummaryofChickenpoxVaccine1.pdf.
Chicken Pox vaccine has a high failure rate:
-Chicken pox vaccine has high rate of primary vaccine failure – Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal: http://therefusers(dot)com/refusers-newsroom/chicken-pox-vaccine-has-high-rate-of-primary-vaccine-failure-pediatric-infectious-disease-journal/#.UTc9-xzIOWb.
-Herpes Zoster (shingles) Related to Varicella Zoster Reactivation Herpes zoster, also known as shingles, develops when varicella zoster virus, which can remain in the body after chickenpox infection, reactivates later in life and causes disease. CDC. Shingles (Herpes Zoster) Clinical Overview Jan. 16. 2014.
-Primary Versus Secondary Failure After Varicella Vaccination: Implications for Interval Between 2 Doses
http://journals.lww.com/pidj/Fulltext/2013/07000/Primary_Versus_Secondary_Failure_After_Varicella.21.aspx#
Avoid contact with high-risk individuals susceptible to varicella because of possible transmission of varicella vaccine virus. (5.4)
****because the virus in the vaccine sheds the individual injected with it is contagious*****
VARIVAX is a live, attenuated varicella-zoster vaccine (VZV) and may cause an extensive vaccine-associated rash or disseminated disease in individuals who are immunosuppressed or immunodeficient. (4.2)
*********this means that an individual (child or adult) can become infected by the vaccine and develop Chicken Pox. The CDC in the Chicken Pox Book (on the CDC’s website) call it “breakthrough infection”.
Breakthrough varicella infection could be a result of several factors, including interference of vaccine virus replication
by circulating antibody, impotent vaccine resulting from storage or handling errors or inaccurate recordkeeping. Interference from live viral vaccine administered before varicella vaccine could also reduce vaccine effectiveness.
5.4 Risk of Vaccine Virus Transmission
Post-marketing experience suggests that transmission of vaccine virus may occur rarely between healthy vaccinees who develop a varicella-like rash and healthy susceptible contacts. Transmission of vaccine virus from a mother who did not develop a varicella-like rash to her newborn infant has been reported. Due to the concern for transmission of vaccine virus, vaccine recipients should attempt to avoid whenever possible close association with susceptible high-risk individuals for up to six weeks following vaccination with VARIVAX. Susceptible high-risk individuals include:
• Immunocompromised individuals;
• Pregnant women without documented history of varicella or laboratory evidence of prior infection;
• Newborn infants of mothers without documented history of varicella or laboratory evidence of prior infection and all newborn infants born at <28 weeks gestation regardless of maternal varicella immunity.
On the vaccine vial insert it sates the virus sheds for up to 6 weeks.