Is there a chicken pox epidemic?

I looked around and did not see a mention of this before here on ATS, I hope this is not a duplicate topic.

I work in law enforcement in the northeast USA, and a couple days ago I was updating some records of past cases, and when I checked the status of some inmates, there were recent comments entered in the log about "subject currently under quarantine for chicken pox." These were at several different facilities. I did not thing much of it except that maybe it was precautionary.

Then yesterday I was reading a newspaper online when I saw this article:

Chickenpox breaks out at jail

WEST BOYLSTON— Two inmates at the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction have come down with chickenpox, and about 70 other inmates – out of a population of 1,267 - were placed in a category of being susceptible to getting the disease.

Also, six jail workers out of the 700-plus employees have been placed in the susceptible category. The two inmates and those placed in the susceptible category are all being offered a vaccine for the disease, which is most common among children under the age of 12.

Full article is at:
www.telegram.com...&source=rss

What is interesting is that none of the inmates I was checking on from my cases are in that part of the state, nor have they recently been to courtrooms or anywhere else in public. They may have had contacts with visitors or attorneys. I do not know anything about chicken pox or similar diseases (isn't shingles similar?), but I wonder why the common denominator here is inmates.

Any thoughts? Reports from other parts of the country?

I am wondering if the infected inmates and guards might be immigrants from Mexico or another country that does not require vaccinations.

Usually when you have chickenpox ( varicella zoster ) the body builds up a life time immunity to the disease.

Shingles ( herpes zoster ) is a side effect of chicken pox that can manifest itself many years after the initial chicken pox infection. It is different than chicken pox as it usually only effects a strip or patch of skin.
It can be very painful and last months.

There is a vaccine to prevent shingles. I received the vaccine earlier this month. It is recommended in adults over 60 yrs. of age.

America's prison population topped 2 million inmates for the first time in history on June 30, 2002 according to a new report from the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS).

usgovinfo.about.com...

we are becoming like North Korea.

i do believe that inmates are subjected to numerous experiments. www.nick2211.yage.net... Blueprint for a Prison Planet which covers the science angle.

i have a friend who was incarcerated for approx a year and was released w/MSRA. it took another year for his back to heal. he was never treated.

i think you are onto something!