Leading health experts are throwing cold water on Internet-based discussions suggesting "swine-flu parties" as a way to build immunity in children in case the virus mutates into something more severe.
The idea of bringing children with the flu together with others is "a very dangerous practice," Canada's chief public health officer, Dr. David Butler-Jones, said Thursday. While most infections so far have caused mild disease, "you cannot predict which child will get seriously ill and die," Butler-Jones said from an meeting in Mexico on H1N1 influenza.
"Who wants to have that party, and have that as a consequence? There is no guarantee as to how this virus will evolve. But certainly, trying to get infected at this time is potentially very dangerous."
Reports have surfaced of people discussing, in online forums, plans for swine-flu parties. The parties are based on the belief that, if a person gets a mild version of the virus now, he or she may become less likely to contract a more deadly strain in the next wave of the pandemic.
The idea stems from "pox parties" that were popular before a chickenpox vaccine became available. The idea was to expose children to chickenpox in an attempt to give them immunity to the disease, reducing their risk of getting chickenpox when they were older, when symptoms can be much worse.
Health experts say the idea of throwing a swine-flu party with the same goal is just a bad idea.
"I've got two kids. I wouldn't expose them to this virus," says Dr. David Patrick, director of epidemiology at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.
"The logic behind it is, people are saying, 'This virus could change and become more virulent, so get exposed to it when it's mild,' " Patrick says. But there is no sign of a "whole raft of crazy mutations going on," he adds.
So far, from a genetic standpoint, the virus appears to be more or less stable, he says. It would take a significant genetic change to increase virulence, "and that typically doesn't happen too fast."
"We're well along in terms of vaccine production, so it's very likely that, by the fall, or at least the late fall, vaccine will be available for Canadians against this strain, which will be a much preferred option than taking the risk of exposing your kid to a live infection," Patrick says.
In May, Richard Besser, the acting head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned against deliberately exposing people to the virus. And one of the senior people in charge of fighting Toronto's SARS outbreak in 2003 questions why any parent would want to take the risk.
"That you would deliberately take a risk with your child now, because it might avoid a theoretical risk in the future, seems like really odd behaviour, because that's what you're doing," says Dr. Allison McGeer, director of infection control at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital.
The Public Health Agency of Canada warned this week that serious cases are occurring in previously healthy people, where the infection rapidly progressed to severe illness requiring ventilators.
Young children are also "probably the most important vectors" for spreading the disease to others, Patrick says, including people at high risk for complications, such as adults and children with underlying asthma, diabetes and other medical conditions, as well as pregnant women.
As of June 29, a total of 7,983 laboratory-confirmed cases of H1N1 flu virus had been reported in Canada. To date, 538 hospitalizations and 25 deaths have been reported among lab-confirmed cases.
Most of those infected are under the age of 20.
fromhttp://www.vancouversun.com
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