CARBONDALE - Health officials at Southern Illinois University Carbondale are warning students they've found a confirmed case of chickenpox on campus.

SIUC Medical Chief of Staff Charles Clemens said a female student apparently carried the varicella (chickenpox) virus with her to school this year. The student, who is not being named, has been quarantined and will return home until the illness runs its course.

Clemens said the student began feeling sick last Tuesday; the campus medical staff identified the sickness as chickenpox Monday. Officials held a press conference in the Student

Center Monday afternoon as part of an overall campaign to notify anyone who might have come into contact with the student since the beginning of school.

"We have a series of protocols we go through in these instances, and this is kind of a heads-up call," said Larry Dietz, SIUC vice chancellor for student affairs and enrollment management.

Cheryl Presley, director of the campus student health programs, said staff members have already alerted student floor supervisors in the residence hall where the infected student was staying. Presley would not name the facility, pending the notification of people living in the building.

Presley said the staff also has plans to notify everyone who may have been in class with the girl, as well as send a message to local restaurants at which she ate recently.

Despite the precautions, Clemens said 95 percent of the population at SIUC is probably immune to chickenpox, having either been vaccinated or infected with the virus at a young age.

"Chickenpox is a common childhood illness that is becoming less common," he said.

Vaccinations, which began in 1995, have steadily reduced the number of chickenpox cases doctors see in the U.S. each year.

Clemens said it isn't likely other students will contract the virus, even if they were in the same general area as the infected young woman. He added chickenpox cases among college students don't happen frequently; the disease is generally benign among normal, healthy adults, he said.

Clemens said the staff is currently sending letters out to all students potentially exposed to the virus. The letters detail the common symptoms of chickenpox, a sickness that often begins the same way as a cold.

Presley said SIUC offers chickenpox vaccinations to anyone who may be susceptible to contracting the virus.

caleb.hale@thesouthern.com

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