HEALTH officials and officers at the May Pen Police Station in Clarendon are working hard to contain an outbreak of Chicken Pox at the lockup after six inmates contracted the contagious disease last week.

According to Deputy Police Superintendent Ian Mowatt, precautionary measures have been bolstered at the station to prevent the illness from spreading to staff and other inmates.

"It is not so much an outbreak but prisoners had it. And so we have moved swiftly to inoculate our staff and also other members of the prison population to prevent an outbreak. About six inmates had it last week," Mowatt told the Observer yesterday.

The Deputy Superintendent said that the matter was quickly detected, and that the sick inmates have been isolated and are being treated.

Yesterday, a source told the Observer that "mitigation measures have been put in place (at the station)" by the Clarendon Health Department.

"As far as I know most of the cases were on the men," the source said.

Chicken pox is a highly contagious illness caused by viral infection which generally starts with a skin rash on the body and head.

The rashes can become itchy raw scars or small open sores, which most times heal without scarring.

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