Lincoln County spelling bee
The Lincoln County Spelling Bee will be held on February 21, 2018 at the Troy High School Au-ditorium in beginning at 1 p.m. Students in grades four through eight are eligible to participate in this annual event.
Scripps National Spelling Bee organization implemented a registra-tion fee for all Montana schools wishing to com-pete at the State and Na-tional level. Schools must be registered with Scripps to participate in the Treasure State Spelling Bee.
Practice words are available to any student whether they are from a registered school or not at www.myspellit.com. You will also find a My Spell It test link on the Scripps website so that spellers can be quizzed on ran-domly selected words.
Public, private and home schools should be holding local contests to choose a representatives to the County Spelling Bee. If the winner of the Lincoln County Spelling Bee is from a school that is registered with the Scripps National Spelling Bee they will qualify to go on to represent Lincoln County at the 2018 Treas-ure State Bee to be held in the Fortin Center on the Rocky Mountain College campus in Billings, Mont. on March 17, 2018.
Nancy T. Higgins, Lin-coln County Superinten-dent of Schools, will serve as County Bee Director. For additional infor-mation, please call at 406-283-2401.
New improved Shingles vaccine available locally
Shingles is a viral in-fection caused by the her-pes zoster virus and most typically causes a very painful rash. This rash usually develops on one side of the face or body but can take up to four weeks or longer to com-pletely clear.
The CDC estimates that one out of three adults in the U.S. will de-velop shingles at some point in their lifetime. About one million cases of shingles are reported eve-ry year but there are ac-tions you can take to re-duce your chances of a shingles infection.
Anyone who has ever been infected and recov-ered from chickenpox may develop shingles. The reason is the same virus, the zoster virus, is what causes chickenpox and shingles.
How this works is once a person recovers from chickenpox, the virus re-mains dormant within the body, typically in the nerve tissue near your spinal cord and brain. Re-searchers are not exactly sure what causes the virus to reactivate as shingles. It may be due to lowered immunity to infections as you age since most of shingles infections are present in adults 50 years old and over, and those with weakened immune function. However, stress, tobacco use, poor diet, obesity, and certain chronic diseases may in-crease your risks of a shingles infection.
Not everyone who has had chickenpox will de-velop shingles. Shingles isn’t life-threatening; however, it can be ex-tremely painful. Pain is usually the first symptom and for some can be very intense and debilitating. Complications can occur from shingles like post herpetic neuralgia, which is chronic pain from dam-age to the infected nerves. This pain can become chronic and permanent. Vision loss, neurological problems, and other skin infections can be other complications to shingles.
Most people who de-velop shingles have only one episode during their lifetime. However, a per-son can have a second or even a third episode.
Shingles cannot be passed from one person to another. However, a person with shingles can pass the varicella-zoster virus to anyone who isn’t immune to chickenpox. This usually occurs through direct contact with the open sores of the shingles rash. Once infect-ed, the person may devel-op chickenpox. Once the rash of shingles has devel-oped crusts, the person is no longer infectious.
If you have shingles, it is important to:
Cover your rash
Avoid touching or scratching the rash
Wash your hands often
Avoid contact with people, particularly preg-nant women, infants, and people with weakened immune systems
The most reliable and effective way to prevent shingles is through vac-cination. A new shingles vaccine, Shingrix, was re-leased in November 2017 which has shown to be 95% effective in prevent-ing shingles and complica-tions associated with shingles. Shingrix has sur-passed the effectiveness of Zostavax, the previous-ly recommended vaccine for shingles which was only 51% effective.
It is recommended all adults 50 years and older get vaccinated with Shin-grix, even if previously vaccinated with Zostavax or if you have previously had shingles. Shingrix is an Intramuscular injec-tion that is given in two doses, 2- 6 months apart.
Side Effects to vaccina-tion with Shingrix is clas-sic of most immuniza-tions. About 90% of vac-cinated individuals will experience soreness, pain, redness, and mild swell-ing at the injection site. About 10% of vaccinated people will experience mild fever and fatigue for a few days. It is important to remember that these reactions are not “bad reactions” to this vaccine. These side effects are ex-pected and are a normal part of the immune pro-cess.
Lincoln County Public Health is currently taking orders for the Shingrix vaccine if you are interest-ed in getting vaccinated. We can bill directly to your insurance company but some out of pocket costs may apply.
Call county health nurse, Riley Black, at (406) 283-2447 for more information or to place your order.
KVCS speech meet winners
The following Koote-nai Valley Christian School students will ad-vance to the ACSI District Speech Meet in Sandpoint, Idaho, on February 23, 2018.
First Grade
Caelan Gray – Poetry
Caitlyn Chamberlain – Po-etry
Soleigah Ballesteroz – Bi-ble
Second Grade
Morgan Sanderson – Poet-ry
Koehler Holmes – Poetry
Angelica Bailey – Bible
Thorin Nixon – Bible
Third Grade
Zoe Warner – Poetry
Katie Campbell – Poetry
Fourth Grade
Augustine Bailey – Bible
Fifth Grade
Warren Paulsen – Poetry
Nicholas Silbermann – Poetry
Dylan Warner – Bible
Mandy Schmitt – Bible
Aaron Thomas – Patriotic Oration
Olivia Sanderson – Patriot-ic Oration
Seventh Grade
James Warner – Bible
Steven Kvapil – Puppet Show
John O’Connell – Puppet Show
Eighth Grade
Mikaliana O’Rourke – Dra-matic Reading
Hannah Schertel – Dramatic Reading