ALBA, MI -- An Antrim County school is reporting several students have Chickenpox.

Efforts are underway to keep the outbreak from spreading.

"It’s affected 26 kids," explained school registrar Martie Leitow.

And that's a large percentage of the 181 students at Concord Montessori and Community School in Alba.  Three weeks ago, Chickenpox made its way into the school.

"About every 14 days we get a new wave," said Leitow.

And this wave is the largest.  The virus is passed by air.  Once you get it, you're contagious and may not display any symptoms for weeks.

"You can not go back to school, you can not go back to work, until every pox is crusted over and gone," said Suzette Daly, the family health supervisor for the Health Department of Northern Michigan.

It isn't just the students who came down with Chickenpox who are being affected; it's also those who haven't had their vaccinations.  For students who haven't received their shots, the school is telling them to stay home for up to two weeks.  If the virus comes back into the school, they'll have to keep missing because it's too big of a risk.

"We kind of suspect there will be more Chickenpox yet, probably by the end of next week, and then there will be more reports of these children that are out,” said Leitow.

The Health Department of Northwest Michigan is urging parents, not just at Concord Montessori and Community School, but everywhere, to have their child immunized.  Two Varicella shots will protect from Chickenpox.

“The smartest thing is to know where your kids are immunization-wise so a letter comes home from school saying there's chickenpox you can just look at that record and say, "Oh, they've already had two Varicella's, we're safe,"” said Daly.

Concord has sent those letters home to parents warning of the pox outbreak.

On Thursday, November 10th, the Health Department of Northwest Michigan plan to have an immunization clinic in Mancelona to urge parents to have their children immunized.  If you're interested, the clinic will be at the Mancelona Family Resource Center from 3-5pm on Thursday.

To schedule immunizations, call your health care provider or the Health Department, at 800-432-4121.