Leery of Vaccine, Some Parents Hold 'Chickenpox Parties'

Fox News ^ | 10/19/2001

[CholeraJoe]

PITTSBURGH

[CholeraJoe]

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.

Hunter S. Thompson.

[SocialMeltdown]

This was a plot line on South Park.

[Ratatoskr]

Wake me up for the Bubonic Plague Party, okay?

[CholeraJoe]

This was a plot line on South Park.

I remember that episode.

[WhiteGuy]

Does this sort of thing work for "Hangovers"

Just wondering

[cajungirl]

Maybe that is why everyone I know is getting shingles. If you have chicken pox, the virus lingers around in nerve tisse to hit you with Herpes Zoster, the shingles later in life. It is horrible to have. These parents need to think about that. I think with the vaccine, you may not get shingles. Not sure but it makes sense to me.

[lodwick]

...and on Sunday they handle rattlesnakes during services. Too rich.

[mystery-ak]

About 20 years ago a friend of mine intentionally exposed her toddler son to chicken-pox....that little boy got soooo sick....she was a complete moron, and I told her so.

[cajungirl]

And another thing, these anti vaccine people depend on "herd immunity" to protect their kids. The rest of the kids get the vaccine thus lessening the chance of an epidemic and the non vaccinated kids not only don't get the disease but don't take the risk that everyone else takes. The ultimate in selfishness.

[mrobison]

People have been doing this for at least 30 years. There is nothing new here.

[Askel5]

My Mom tried in vain to infect me when all my sisters were ill. Now she's worried I should go get a vaccine. What do you think?

[DallasDeb]

Don't be too hard on these people. The medical profession (those who will admit it) is starting to see correlations between the increase in autism and ADHD to multi-disease vaccinations given to children. My young nephew had a severe asthma attack after the last multi-dose he was given. He never had an attack before or since. The doctor in the emergency room told my niece NOT to let anyone give him multi-dose vaccines again. They must be split.

[Aurelius]

I think the lady is being smart.

My own practice is to try to avoid any medical treatment that hasn't been in use for at least 100 years. The most effective and most trustworthy drugs are those based on naturally occuring substances that were known and used by paleolithic peoples.

[Harrison Bergeron]

"Last month, Shoemaker sent her three children to the house of a friend whose child was infected with chickenpox, hoping they would catch the highly contagious virus. "

This social phenomenon was first exposed a few years back by the cartoon "South Park." The kids retaliated by bringing in a hooker with herpes to infect all ot their parents toothbrushes and toilet seats. These parents deserve no less.

[nycgal]

I had chicken pox as a child. For the past 15 years I've been getting hit with shingles every two years or so. Not fun.

[randita]

This lady is opening herself wide open to a lawsuit. Even if the parents approve of exposing their children this way to chickenpox, there is an incubation period for the disease, during which time an unsuspecting adult or child could come in contact with the child and get the disease.

I have known adults who have gotten either chickenpox or shingles and know that it is a debilitating illness.

I hope this lady has a good lawyer, because if she keeps this up, she's going to need one.

[LurkedLongEnough]

Vaccines are a necessary evil. They sure beat getting chicken pox with 2 weeks of fever, crazed itching, quarantine not to mention lifelong scars and possible cases of shingles. Before the vaccine was available, I was exposed to, and got, chicken pox when I was pregnant, which was scary, but turned out ok.

Exposure to chicken pox actually can kill immune-suppressed people, such as transplant recipients, who may be relatives or friends of kids who attend such parties.

[Alberta's Child]

Interesting story. I read an article a few years ago about an experiment they did over a 15-year period in Scotland. They took a bunch of kindergarten students and divided them into two groups. The first group of kids was raised in a very controlled, sterile environment, and were taken out of their classrooms at the first sign of illness. The second group spent half their days playing outside in the dirt, and were allowed to play together even when they got sick.

Fifteen years later, they studied those kids as 20 year-olds and found that the "outside" kids were far healthier than the "clean" ones.

[cajungirl]

There was a recent report on this. Autism is in no way associated with vaccines, multiple dose vaccines either. There is no defense for asking everyone around you to be vaccinated for disease and you not to and relying on herd immunity to protect you. They can subject their children to single doses, that I don't care about, but I am talking about the fruit loops who wont give whooping cough, diptheria, polio vaccines. They are utterly selfish. Public Health depends on all of us getting vaccinated to prevent epidemics. And chicken pox can kill anyone who is immunosuppressed. People on cancer chemo can die from this. And these nutbars are giving parties to keep it going. Adults are at high risk of chicken pox pneumonia and it is a killer.