What would you tell me if I invite you to a party with sick chickenpox or measles protagonists, and that you come with your children? Well, these curious events, which seem to have originated in a time when vaccines did not exist, are still held today with quite unconsciousness.
I've been stunned to read these cases of parents who are against vaccinating their children and organize or attend chickenpox parties to see if children get immunized by contacting the sick.
Recently it has been discovered through a social network how a group of parents “trafficked with diseases”. The so-called "Chicken Pox Parties", or "Chickenpox Parties" have the sole purpose of exposing their children to different viruses so that, in this way, they achieve immunization at very early ages.
In other words, healthy children can be infected by the latter and develop the disease when they are still small.
It is not an isolated or current case, but in the past there have been other “Parties of inoculation” with other diseases, such as measles. In infections such as these, if a child suffers from the disease at an early age, the risk of possible complications of the disease is lower, compared to those that may arise in adults who get sick from the same infection.
This is true for hepatitis A, mumps and chicken pox, among others. And this is the basis for parents who distrust the chickenpox vaccine, or parents who want their children to acquire immunity while still being children, who organize such "parties."
In case the “natural” exposure to infection is not enough, you can try your luck by buying lollipops infected with the saliva of a patient, the “Chicken-Pox lollipops”.
Obviously, those who organize and attend these parties believe that this method is more effective and safer than receiving vaccination. But the obvious risk of practices such as this not only entails that the child is exposed to the virus in question, but also is exposed to much more serious and unexpected infections, such as those mentioned above.
These practices are very controversial and are discouraged by public health officials in the United States. Most health professionals, although they can understand the logic of reasoning and acting, consider this practice as "madness."
When the exhibition involves the United States Postal Service (for shipping of contaminated products, infected lollipops), the practice is illegal.
In any case, common sense and ignorance about how viruses can react in each individual or the risks of infection from other diseases do not recommend this practice of chickenpox parties.
