Case of chickenpox reported at Wauwatosa school
The Wauwatosa Health Department is warning parents that students at Longfellow Middle School may have been exposed to the chickenpox.
The Wauwatosa Health Department is warning parents that students at Longfellow Middle School may have been exposed to the chickenpox.
The Wauwatosa Health Department is warning parents that students at Longfellow Middle School may have been exposed to the chickenpox.
The Wauwatosa Health Department is warning parents that students at Longfellow Middle School may have been exposed to the chickenpox.
"You have to take it seriously because you never know," parent Pheng Vang said.
Vang has two children in Wauwatosa, and the youngest is just 10 months old, too young for a chickenpox vaccine.
The Health Department calls chickenpox a highly contagious disease.
Its early symptoms include headache and fever, leading to a "rash that causes itchy, fluid-filled blisters that turn into scabs."
Cases of chicken pox have decreased dramatically over the past two decades because of the chickenpox vaccine.
The new case comes amid a nationwide measles outbreak, which is drawing attention and raises new questions about vaccination rates.
The Wauwatosa Health Department told WISN 12 News the concerns are different in this case than with measles.
However, not vaccinating our children from vaccine-preventable illnesses puts some community members at high risk.
"I always make sure to keep up on the vaccinations, and I think it's very important that every kid should," parent Roger Huffman said.
It’s not known whether the person who contracted the chickenpox virus had been vaccinated.