A number of cases of chickenpox are showing up at Gretna Elementary School but an official with Southern Health RHA says it's nothing to be alarmed about.

Dr. Michael Routledge says a few cases have appeared over the past few weeks, but nothing that would indicate an outbreak of the childhood illness.

"I was speaking to one of the physicians from the area and he was telling me he had seen a couple of cases in the last several weeks, but I haven't heard of an outbreak. As far as I know, I'm assuming it's a small number of cases and nothing out of the ordinary."

Chickenpox is a mild and common childhood illness caused by a virus known as varicella zoster. It's most common in children under the age of 10 and has an incubation period of approximately 10 to 21 days.

Routledge says most children in our region have been vaccinated against the virus but there are small pockets of students in our region who have not.

"I know that most people have the perception that chicken pox is benign and that most kids eventually get it and are fine. That's true, but the reason it's part of our (vaccination) schedule is that we still see severe cases where people get pneumonia or encephalitis which is a brain inflammation, but since we've introduced the vaccine there has been a significant drop in infections and complications related to varicella."

Parents whose children are battling chicken pox are asked to keep kids at home to help limit the spread of the virus which is very contagious. A person is contagious from 1 to 2 days before the spots appear and about 5 to 6 days after.

Groups of people that are most at risk of serious problems from chickenpox are newborn babies, pregnant women and those with a weakened immune system.

Routledge says anyone who may have questions about the vaccine should talk to their local physician to get the answers.

"I think when most people have that information they tend to choose to get vaccinated because the benefits simply outweigh the risks," said Routledge.