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19 March 2024

Chickenpox cases up say parents, but Dubai schools refute claims

Published
By Shuchita Kapur

Parents in Dubai are on the guard as it is peak season for chickenpox - the highly-contagious, blistering virus, which can be very unpleasant for children.

Some parents in the city have complained their children have picked up the virus from school, but school authorities say that cases are minimal this year.

“Both my children are down with chickenpox and I know of other such cases in school,” said a parent on the condition of anonymity. The children study in a prestigious British curriculum school in Dubai.

“Two of my children study in Wellington Primary and I’ve been receiving text messages from the school about isolated cases of chickenpox. One of my kids is in Year 2 and there have been two such cases in the class. The school has also advised parents to take precautionary measures,” said another parent.

The school nurse at Wellington Primary refused to comment on the matter when contacted by Emirates 24|7.

Other schools that this website spoke with refuted such claims and said there is no increase in the number of cases this year.

“There has been no significant increase in the number of cases in the school. There were no cases reported in February and I can only think of one or two students being down with chickenpox till date in the month of March.

“Getting vaccinated against chickenpox is a good idea but we should remember this is a childhood disease. Of course, there are horrible cases of chickenpox as well,” said Rachel Jex, school nurse at Jumeirah Baccalaureate School.

“We don’t have any cases of chickenpox in the school. If there were any infected children they must have gone to clinics/doctors outside the school. We are not aware of any such case,” said the nurse at Dubai Modern High School.

“There have not been many cases of chickenpox. We’ve had only two students down with the virus so far.

“If children do get infected we follow the guidelines of at least a seven day break from school but the number of days goes up if the outbreak is severe.

“All children who get infected with chickenpox are required to get a fitness medical certificate when they join school. Most children have very mild cases as nearly all parents get their little ones vaccinated,” said Suja Vijayalakshmi, the school nurse at Dubai International Academy.

The chickenpox vaccine is an optional one in Dubai.

The infected child is advised to stay away from school for 15 days and in some severe cases it takes about 21 days to recuperate.

The first and the last stages of the disease are very contagious.

The virus

Chickenpox is caused by the varicella-zoster virus and is very contagious. You can get it from an infected person who sneezes, coughs, or shares food or drinks or from the fluid from a chickenpox blister.

A person who has chickenpox can spread the virus even before he or she has any symptoms. Chickenpox is most easily spread from 2 to 3 days before the rash appears until all the blisters have crusted over.

You are at risk for chickenpox if you have never had the illness and have not had the chickenpox vaccine. If someone you live with gets chickenpox, your risk is even higher because of the close contact.

Symptoms

The first symptoms of chickenpox are fever, a headache, and a sore throat.

The infected person may feel sick, tired, and not very hungry.

The chickenpox rash usually appears about 1 or 2 days after the first symptoms start.

Some children get the chickenpox rash without having a fever or other early symptoms.

It usually takes 14 to 16 days to get the symptoms of chickenpox after you have been around someone with the virus. This is called the incubation period.

After a chickenpox red spot appears, it usually takes about 1 or 2 days for the spot to go through all its stages.

This includes blistering, bursting, drying, and crusting over. New red spots will appear every day for up to 5 to 7 days.

You or your child can go back to work, school, or day care when all blisters have crusted over. This is usually about 10 days after the first symptoms start.