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Source: Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (IN)

By: Svitek, Patrick

12/21/2011

An elementary school in Steuben County, Ind., has seen an outbreak of chickenpox. The state health department says an outbreak has occurred in an elementary school when five or more cases have been confirmed. The fourth and fifth cases were recently confirmed at Fremont Elementary, with the first case surfacing in late November. The outbreak is not abnormal for an elementary school, according to Steuben County public health nurse Renee Broughton. “I haven’t seen it before in Steuben County, but it’s fairly common not just in Indiana, but throughout the United States,” says Broughton. Fremont Community Schools Superintendent Ben Roederer recently sent letters to parents asking them to keep their children out of school until they receive the most up-to-date vaccination.