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The Tooele County School District requires all children be vaccinated against Chickenpox before they enter kindergarten.
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Chickenpox is a highly contagious disease, mostly occurring in children. Tooele County, like the rest
of the state, has a high rate of Chickenpox.
The risk of the Chickenpox Vaccine causing  serious harm or death,
is extremely rare, if not impossible. The Food and Drug Administration recently announced the licensing
of a vaccine for the prevention of chickenpox. A
single injection of the vaccine is recommended for children ages 12
months to 12 years, while two injections 4 to 8 weeks apart are recommended
for adolescents and adults--ages 13 and older--who have not contracted
chickenpox. The vaccine has been shown to be safe and effective when
administered at the same time as the measles, mumps and rubella vaccines.
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Chickenpox
is spread much the same as the Common Cold. A person with chickenpox
is most  contagious just after symptoms start but remains contagious
until the last blisters have crusted. A person who has had chickenpox
develops immunity and can't contract it again. However, the virus
remains in the body after an initial infection with chickenpox, sometimes
occurring in later life, causing shingles.
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Symptoms begin 10 to 21 days after infection.
In children over age 10, the first symptoms are mild headache, moderate
fever, and a feeling of illness (malaise). Younger children usually
don't have these symptoms, and symptoms are usually more severe
in adults.
About 24 to 36 hours after the first symptoms begin, a rash of
small, flat, red areas (spots) appears. Each spot soon becomes raised;
forms an itchy, round, fluid-filled blister (bleb) against a red
background; and finally crusts. The whole sequence takes 6 to 8
hours. Successive clusters (crops) of spots continue to develop
and crust. New spots usually stop appearing by the fifth day, the
majority are crusted by the sixth day, and most disappear in fewer
than 20 days.
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The face, arms, and legs have relatively
few spots, except in severe cases when the entire body surface is
affected. When the person has only a few spots, they are usually
on the upper trunk. Spots frequently appear on the scalp. Spots
in the mouth quickly rupture and form raw sores (ulcers), which
often make swallowing painful. Raw sores may also occur on the eyelids
and in the upper airways, rectum, and vagina. Spots in the voice
box and upper airways may occasionally cause severe difficulty in
breathing. Lymph nodes at the side of the neck may become enlarged
and tender. The worst part of the illness usually lasts 4 to 7 days.
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