PORT ORANGE -- Just days before Thanksgiving when a warning went out and through the first two weeks of December, at least 40 students at Spruce Creek High School came down with Chicken Pox.
There were at least 14 cases reported one day alone, with the vast majority of all the victims being ninth- and tenth-graders, school officials said.
School officials sent home warnings in letters and made phone calls to parents and guardians about the outbreak just before the Thanksgiving break when 10 students were discovered to have chicken Pox, but by Dec. 4, there were a reported 27 cases.
Health officials noted chicken pox is uncomfortable because of the itchy rash, but typically benign, so children are not always immunized. It requires an incubation period of 10-21 days so visible bumps can crust over.