Health official: Chicken pox cases highlight importance of vaccinations

There was a time — 30 or 40 years ago — when having chicken pox was as much of a childhood rite of passage as losing primary teeth, learning to ride a bike or the onset of puberty.

Nearly everyone contracted the disease, usually during their elementary-school years. Usually when children experienced the fever, malaise, loss of appetite and signature itchy red blisters associated with the chicken pox, the illness kept them out of school for several days.

About the only good thing about getting the disease was that you knew chances were very high that you wouldn't ever get it again.

Nowadays, mentions of chicken pox are rare. About the only time most people hear about the disease is when they take their children in for the now-standard vaccinations against the disease.

Dr. Joshua Meyerson, medical director for the Health Department of Northwest Michigan, said the incidence of chicken pox is down significantly from those days when contracting it was so common that some parents would have their children intentionally exposed to it, so they would get it out of the way.

Meyerson said while there were likely a number of cases that went unreported, state health officials only recorded 533 cases of chicken pox statewide in 2017 and 567 in 2016.

That's down significantly from decades past, however, "it's certainly not been eradicated," Meyerson said.

Officials at Boyne City Public Schools know that all too well.

Just in the past week, the district has sent two letters out to parents notifying them that students in the high school may have been exposed to chicken pox. In the first letter, school officials simply noted that students may have been exposed to the virus and provided information on vaccination effectiveness, symptoms and what to do if you think your student may have the disease. In a follow-up letter that went out Tuesday, school officials said school currently had three "potential" cases of chicken pox or shingles, noting that blood testing is required to confirm a diagnosis.

On Wednesday, school superintendent Pat Little said the district has reported the situation to the health department and is following its recommendations for monitoring the situation and notifying parents. He said as of late morning Wednesday, there were no new reported potential cases or developments in the situation.

Meyerson said, and as noted in the district's letters to parents, exposure to the disease shouldn't present a problem for most people. He said those who have had it are very unlikely to get it again and children who have had the two-dose vaccine series should in large degree be protected.

"While no vaccine is 100 percent effective in preventing disease, the (Centers for Disease Control) says that the chicken pox vaccine is very effective: about 8 to 9 of every 10 people who are vaccinated are completely protected from chicken pox ... If a vaccinated person does get chicken pox, it is usually a very mild case," the letter reads, in part.

Following health department guidelines, school procedures are that a student with chicken pox would need to stay home from school until all the blisters are crusted over or at least seven days from when the rash originated.

Meyerson said that although for many chicken pox was not a serious illness and amounted to little more than a nuisance rite of passage in childhood, the modern efforts to keep people from getting the disease are the right thing to do for several reasons.

First, he said, although it is mild for many people, there is a risk of serious complications, such a secondary pneumonia or meningitis. It's a bigger concern for certain populations, too, such as people with impaired immune systems or women who are pregnant.

"It used to be every year there would be reports of children who would die from chicken pox. We (see) a lot fewer cases of that today," Meyerson said.

The other significant reason it's better not to get the disease at all is because it significantly reduces the chance of getting shingles. Shingles, is essentially a potential "second phase" of chicken pox that anyone who has ever had the disease could get later in life.

Essentially, Meyerson said, after someone recovers from chicken pox, the virus often doesn't leave the body, but rather it goes dormant in certain nerve tissues. Under the right conditions, such as having a weakened immune system, the virus can become reactivated much later in life causing the shingles.

Shingles is marked most notably by painful blisters breaking out on one or more parts of a person's body. Shingles can come with its own serious side effect, known as post-herpatic neuralgia — pain that continues long after the blisters have cleared because "nerve fibers that were damaged by the disease send confused and exaggerated messages of pain from your skin to your brain," a Mayo clinic description of the condition reads. Other complications can include vision problems if shingles happen around an eye, neurological problems and skin infections.

Little from Boyne City schools said staff have notified students and parents and district custodial staff are redoubling their efforts in the usual disinfection efforts around the district's school buildings. However, Meyerson said outside of vaccination, other efforts to stop the disease's spread don't have much effect.

Meyerson said the disease is highly contagious among people who are not immune. This situation is further complicated by the fact that chicken pox not only has a long incubation period — 10 to 21 days from exposure to symptoms — but also that people are contagious from up to 48 hours before the rash appears until after all the blisters crust over.

However, he said there is one other thing that people can do if they are unsure about their immunity status and think they may have been exposed to the virus. He said getting a vaccination, even three to five days after exposure, can still greatly reduce a person's chances of getting the disease.

Finally, Meyerson said cases, such as the handful of potential cases that turned up recently in the Boyne City schools, are now rare. However, he said, it highlights the importance of having as much of the population vaccinated as possible, for this and many other diseases.