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We enjoy any excuse for a party but when lesions and scabs are involved we can't help but be a bit repulsed.
Chickenpox parties are growing in popularity as parents who don't want to vaccinate their kids try instead to get their children infected early in life when the effects are typically more mild. These parents may also be skeptical of the chickenpox vaccine for medical reasons or have religious reasons against vaccinating their children. But religion doesn't get in the way of a good party! Most pox parties are similar to a typical playdate but with parents urging their children to share popsicles, suckers, whistles, juice boxes and t-shirts with the infected. Mglurg. The most disgusting thing about this might be that many pox parties are found on community boards.
"Once I realized I was driving from Oak Park from Hyde Park to be at a complete stranger's house and share their germs—that's a little weird," Megan Cummins, a shiatsu therapist who recently tried to infect her children, told the Trib.
But before you go dragging your children to Skokie to share spit with a strange, sick child, know that most pediatricians advise against the parties and push vaccinations since 1 in 10 children experience serious problems like skin infections, dehydration, pneumonia and more. Which reminds us of when the South Park moms had a pox party at Kenny's house and they all ended up in the hospital. Also, sometimes pox parties don't work. Chickenpox is most contagious during a one week period, notably, the time between lesions and scabs and "some parents drove to an infected child's house only to find that scabs had begun to form." Ew.
The Chicagoist staff is pretty mixed on the pro-pox/no-pox debate. Most of us have been infected with chickenpox and have mild but vivid memories of itching, missing school, eating popsicles, and getting our siblings or classmates all poxy. The lucky few that actually got vaccinated, though, are scar free and proud of it. [Trib]
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this is sort of old/new news ... they used to do this back when i was a kid. i'm super anti-vaccine for stuff like chickenpox. it really won't kill you, and the vaccines for chickenpox don't last forever. god forbid you end up getting it again as an adult ... yipes. shingles is the worst. i've seen my parents get it and it's nasty stuff.
as far as other vaccines, i work around parents who are sometimes completely anti all vaccines, which i'm not exactly sure i'm down with, but i *am* down with delaying vaccines and spreading them out. it seems like no coincidence that jacking your very, very tiny infant with even trace amounts of mercury can't be good to their small to non-existent immune system. autism, what?
and don't even get me started on the flu vaccine ....
I think this is the most absurd thing I've heard in years. Purposefully getting your children sick ... isn't that a syndrome or something?
The most logic-defying part of it is that chicken pox vaccine is merely a weakened form of the chicken pox virus, yet somehow, these parents figure it's less harmful to give their kids the real thing. Idiotic.
My parents did that for chicken pox and for the mumps. I'm old, there weren't vaccines for these diseases when I was a kid. And like smussy said, better to get them over with as a child.
Autism, what? -- exactly. Vaccines do not cause autism, the end.
I'm all for not going crazy with the vaccines but taking your kid to a "pox-party?" Really? Kids will probably get it anyway. I did when I was younger and then gave it to my younger brother. Plus I'm relatively sure they had the vaccine when we were kids.
Also you might end up with herpes from your toothbursh. Just sayin....
Smussy,
With the exception of a very few flu vaccines, thimerosal (mercury) has not been used in childhood vaccines. So parents can rest assured. And all scientific evidence suggests that vaccines do not cause autism.
I am torn on the whole chicken pox vaccination because I do not know how long it will protect a child. Chicken pox can be deadly as an adult. I think if I had a child, I would rather that they get it instead of being vaccinated. However, I do think that every child should receive the other standard immunizations, and a child should get the pox vaccine if they haven't gotten it by a certain age (unless it is against your religion).
Mumps and measles are on the rise because parents have not been vaccinating. Also, the majority of the US population gets vaccinated. Every person is taking the burden and risk of side effects by being vaccinated, to protect the entire population. If someone decides not to take the risk and not get immunized, they put not only themselves, but the entire population at risk.
they definitely didn't have vaccines for these when *i* was a kid.
and it's good you can dismiss the autism/vaccine/mercury thing out of hand, lintilla, but i'm a 'better safe than sorry' kind of person. especially when it comes to these kinds of things.
and definitely when it seems like there's money to be made. of course i don't want teenage girls to get HPV, but unilaterally vaccinating them? hell, no. scaring people into getting flu vaccines? yipes. just because we *can* do something, doesn't mean we -should.-
insofar as the real thing vs. a weakened version ... well, that's the point. a body given the chance to fight off the real thing is going to be that much more immunized and without any of the other stuff in the vaccine. it's completely logical if you trust in the human body's natural processes to take care of itself, instead of trying to supercede them with weaker man-made versions.
This was sort of standard practice when I was a kid and the vaccine was a long way off. Parents wanted their kids to catch chicken pox during the summer so there was less missed school and work.
We didn't have parties, though. If your friend got chicken pox, you'd go hang out with them for an afternoon (since they were probably bored to death anyway). Most of us caught it through school anyway.
Getting chicken pox when you're young still isn't exactly a super happy funtime. My sister got a particularly bad case with bumps inside her mouth and ears.
"Kids will probably get it anyway."
Not if everyone's vaccinated. My pediatrician was very anti-vaccine, so I got very few of them (he wrote me a note saying I was allergic to everything else). Measels, mumps, rhubella, all those shots, skipped, but I never caught any of the viruses because everyone else was vaccinated. If you're not going to vaccinate, these parties are better than never building any immunity.
You can die from chickenpox (the CDC says over 100 did a year, which isn't a ton in the scheme of things, but...), but it's also a risk factor for severe invasive group A streptococcal disease, which is a really serious infection. Before widespread vaccination in the US started in 1995, more than 10,000 people a year were hospitalized for chickenpox and its complications. Also, all studies indicate that the vaccine lasts, and if a study emerges that the vaccine requires a booster, people can get boosters. [CDC]
Wow, thank you for being the one voice of non-anectodal reason so far, Margaret.
No one (commonly) knows that the chickenpox virus also causes shingles when it reactivates after like seven decades in your spinal nerves. Ask your grandparents, that stuff is excruciatingly painful, and the pain can last for years. It's called post-herpetic neuralgia.
Theoretically, we can eliminate shingles by vaccinating folks.
And BlueFairlane, it's called Munchausen's-by-proxy, chickenpox parties don't quite fit that syndrome, as misguided as they are.
Thanks, Mags (may I call you 'Mags'?). While I firmly believe that the over-prescribing of (antibiotic) drugs has contributed to the rise of 'superbugs', and as the father of a fully-inoculated-just-three-year-old, and as a full subscriber to the "Carlin Doctrine" (i.e., "You know when I wash my hands... when I shit on them!"), I have to say that the "vaccine=autism" crowd is right up there with the creationists and the rest of the "science is just your opinion" crowd.
Of course, I did eat 2 Big Macs today (I am 35, 5'8", and 163 lbs) and still believe I can out-metabolize the effects...
"...just-turned-three..."
Everybody, quick, look- independant research by Chicagoist has occured!!!!
Let me ask you all a question -- I sort of had chicken pox when I was a kid. I say "sort of" because I ended up with two individual pox on the side of my neck. That was it. My wife says that I'm in for a world of hurt when we have kids and one of them comes home with chicken pox because I'm not sufficiently immune. My mother says that I should be fine. What say you? Am I fucked?
Slap: You need to talk to your doctor. Call him. He may measure the amount of antibodies in your blood, or he may simply give you a booster of the vaccine, just to be safe. Two pox may not have been enough to provide immunity.
You should do this soon, to make sure you are sufficiently immune. Especially if you are around children or work in healthcare. It would be horrible for you to get the pox again.