HIV and ID Observations

If this report isn’t an urban legend, then it’s pretty clear some people need a brain transplant:

The Facebook group is called “Find a Pox Party in Your Area.” According to the group’s page, it is geared toward “parents who want their children to obtain natural immunity for the chicken pox.” …On the page, parents post where they live and ask if anyone with a child who has the chicken pox would be willing to send saliva, infected lollipops or clothing through the mail.

One topic I’ve tended to steer clear from is whole vaccine controversy.

How could I be rational? I’m an Infectious Diseases specialist married to a pediatrician! I believe that the benefits of vaccines — especially for childhood diseases — so overwhelmingly outweigh the risks that I can’t really engage in a polite debate about it.

So each time I’m about to write something about the vaccine issue, I hear Dana Carvey’s voice saying, “Not gonna do it … Wouldn’t be prudent.”

And I write nothing.

But sending infected lollipops in the mail? Some things just deserve open ridicule, and this is one of them.