At least three dozen students have come down with chickenpox at a private school in North Carolina — nearly one-quarter of the student body — in what health officials call the largest outbreak in the state since the chickenpox vaccine became available more than two decades ago.
The students, who range in age from 4 to 11 years old, attend the Asheville Waldorf School in Asheville, N.C., about 120 miles west of Charlotte. They began falling ill in mid-September, said Dr. Jennifer Mullendore, the medical director for Buncombe County Health & Human Services.
The school has 152 children in nursery school through sixth grade, and one of the state’s highest rates of religious exemptions for vaccination.
“The size of this outbreak and the fact that this school continues to have a large number of unvaccinated students makes it very likely there will be continued spread of chickenpox within the school,” Dr. Mullendore said. “This also poses a risk of spread to the surrounding community.”
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