Chickenpox puts kids in hospital

FIGHTING CHICKENPOX: Isaac Mahoney battles chickenpox in Whanganui Hospital's children's ward with the help of a Transformers cape, one from a large container recently dropped off.PHOTO/ SUPPLIED

Three children were admitted to Whanganui Hospital with chickenpox over the weekend.

Five-year-old Isaac Mahony was "shaking, having trouble breathing and walking, and fighting a temperature up in the 40s" when his parents took him to the emergency department, mum Malissa Mahony said.

Isaac caught chickenpox after an outbreak at Upokongaro School, several days after his parents received a newsletter warning parents the disease was going around.

"Five days after Isaac became unwell, my husband and I took him to the Whanganui Hospital's emergency department," Mrs Mahony said.

Paediatrician Giles Bates said two of the three children admitted on the weekend needed intravenous antibiotics to battle infections caused by the disease.

Dr Bates urged parents to have their children immunised against chickenpox.

"There is a cost for this vaccination that I know some families will find hard to meet, but for those who can afford to pay the fee charged by GPs, I would urge them to do so. The chickenpox vaccination is available to children from the age of nine months."

Dr Bates said hospital staff "weren't surprised" that two children needed intravenous antibiotics.

"It's widely known that one in 20 New Zealand children will develop a bacterial skin infection as a result of their having chickenpox, and that one in 10 children hospitalised with chickenpox will be admitted to Starship Hospital's intensive care unit.

"Chickenpox is a serious disease that spreads easily through contact with family and friends. It can cause inflammation of the brain, permanent scarring and, at its worst, death."

Mrs Mahony said she and her husband would have vaccinated Isaac if they had known they could.

"If we'd been made aware that a vaccination against chickenpox was available at the time of his other standard immunisations from Plunket, we would not have hesitated in having it done," she said.

"You wouldn't wish this illness on any child."