Breakthrough Chickenpox affects Vigo Co. Schools

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - As of Tuesday, the Vigo County School Corporation continued to track down several odd cases of the chickenpox.

Recently Farrington Grove Elementary school experienced an outbreak.

Officials with the Vigo County Health Department say the odd part is several infected children have already been vaccinated.

Carol Lucas, Chairperson of Nursing with the Vigo County School Corporation says they are dealing with a milder case called Breakthrough Varicella.

"With breakthrough cases, the chickenpox is much milder and many times they don't look like the typical chickenpox disease. For the most part they may have less than 50 spots,” said Lucas.

The breakthrough form of chickenpox affects those who've had their shots.

Lucas says, "The Breakthrough Varicella is exactly that, they have been vaccinated but they continue to get the disease and right now we don't have answers for that and that's where the Indiana Department of Health comes in and the CDC comes in."

Breakthrough Varicella can sometimes be mistaken for the flu or even bug bites.

School officials say, doctors will often send the infected child back-to-school if the child has mild symptoms and the disease goes undetected.

"If they feel like they've made the diagnosis, then we as a school corporation accepts that diagnosis but I know the health department has been working closely too and they would like to get more scrapings so they can send the information off to the State Department of Indiana Health,” said Lucas.

Lucas says a skin test lets everyone know if a child for sure has chickenpox and hopefully cuts down on infected children spreading the disease.

The Vigo County Health Department says doctors are not required to perform a skin test and often chickenpox symptoms are obvious without testing.

However if a child has Breakthrough Varicella, the skin test can help stop the spreading of the virus.