Swine Flu. Its mere mention is enough to send folks in to a tizzy. I personally am on the fence and have an internal conflict on whether I consider it hype, hysteria, or the next plague. However, I recently ran across an article that made me stop and made me wonder how scared would I have to be to intentionally expose my son to H1N1.

In this week’s US News and World Report, Dr. Judith Palfrey, M.D. gives her advice on the risks associated with “Swine Flu Parties.” According to the article, there are some parents who are getting kids together to swap germs and hopefully pick up the virus. Apparently they just want to get it over with instead of waiting for their child to come down with the flu. I think they are nuts. Dr. Palfrey seems to agree with me.

“While parents want to protect their children from infections, exposing them to illness is not a prudent practice,” she writes.

The Center for Disease Controls apparently agrees with me, too. It covers the topic on the H1N1 question and answer section of its website. According to the CDC, the intent of ‘Swine Flu Parties’ is for a person to becoming infected with the a mild case of the virus in the hope of have a natural immunity to it in case the H1N1 Flu virus intensifies and becomes a more sever disease.

The CDC goes on to say it does not recommend having a party to protect against the swine flu. The website states, “While the disease seen in the current 2009 H1N1 flu outbreak has been mild for many people, it has been severe and even fatal for others. There is no way to predict with certainty what the outcome will be for an individual or, equally important, for others to whom the intentionally infected person may spread the virus.”

I’m no doctor, but duh. The body has an amazing ability to heal itself, but why tempt fate?

Maybe I’m overly sensitive, but I am frantic every time my little guy has a sniffle. I can not imagine getting him sick on purpose. Whether you buy all of the concerns over H1N1 or not, I believe you run a huge risk ever time you get any illness.

Besides, in my honest opinion, the only thing worse than catering to a sick husband is babying a sick kid. I went through this just last week. Kelan has a runny nose, fever, and a bacterial infection on top of it. I ran myself ragged satisfying each of his 2 year-old whims just to stop his frequent whining and tantrums. (Sometimes saying yes to popsicles for breakfast is okay, especially if it will buy you ten minutes of silence.) I love my son, but I have never been so happy to go back to work after the doctor gave him the all clear to be around other children. Now, why on earth would anyone put themselves through this on purpose? Just so their child comes down with swine flu when it’s convenient for them? Please.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 2nd, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under Opinion, Without A Prompter.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.