Have you heard about this? Apparently since some parents have an aversion to vaccinating their children, some are opting to give their kids lollipops that are laced with the chicken pox so that they go ahead and get that disease out of the way.

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/vaccine-wary-parents-warned-sending-chicken-pox-lollipops-mail-article-1.973738

Quote :

Vaccine-wary parents warned against sending ‘chicken pox lollipops’ through the mail
It is a federal crime to send diseases or viruses across state lines

BY The Associated Press
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Originally Published: Monday, November 7 2011, 12:21 PM
Updated: Monday, November 7 2011, 12:21 PM



Parents fearful of vaccinations are being warned by a federal prosecutor that making a deal with a stranger who promises to mail them lollipops licked by children with chickenpox isn't just a bad idea, it's against the law.


Parents fearful of vaccinations are being warned by a federal prosecutor that making a deal with a stranger who promises to mail them lollipops licked by children with chickenpox isn't just a bad idea, it's against the law.

Jerry Martin, U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, said he was spurred by reports this week by KPHO-TV in Phoenix and WSMV-TV in Nashville about people turning to Facebook to find lollipops, spit or other items from children who have chickenpox.

"Can you imagine getting a package in the mail from this complete stranger that you know from Facebook because you joined a group, and say here, drink this purported spit from some other kid?" Martin told The Associated Press.

Isaac Thomsen, a specialist in pediatric infectious diseases at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital, said it's unlikely the items will succeed in giving other children chickenpox.

"If there's a very high load on the virus and shipped very quickly, it's theoretically possible," he said. "But it's probably not an effective way to transmit it. It typically has to be inhaled."

But Thomsen warned the lollipops could carry more dangerous viruses, including hepatitis.

Martin said it is a federal crime to send diseases or viruses across state lines, whether through the U.S. Postal Service or private services like FedEx or UPS. Sending the lollipops would be illegal under the same law that makes it illegal to mail contagions like anthrax. He said a conviction could lead to a sentence from less than a year to 20 years in prison.

Martin said the items are sought by parents who don't want to give their children vaccines. He said he could neither confirm nor deny that his office is investigating or seeking charges against anyone.

According to the TV reports, parents have turned to a Facebook group called "Find a Pox Party in Your Area" to link up people looking to share the virus.

One of the Facebook postings from Wendy Werkit of Nashville offered a "fresh batch of pox in Nashville shipping of suckers, spit and Q-tips available tomorrow 50 dollars via PayPal."

Werkit told WSMV that the money was used to cover the shipping costs of the lollipops had been licked by her children.

"They can't get (chickenpox) the normal way anymore of just naturally catching and just naturally getting the immunity for life," Werkit said.

Thomsen, the Vanderbilt physician, said he was even more concerned by a person in the KPHO report seeking items tainted with measles to avoid a school-required vaccination. Measles has a significant mortality rate, causes more complications and is very infectious compared with chickenpox, he said.

And law enforcement won't take any such cases lightly, Martin said.

"If you are engaged in this type of behavior, you're not only potentially exposing innocent people to dangerous viruses and illnesses and diseases, you're also exposing yourself potentially to federal criminal prosecution," he said.

Just when I think there's no more stupid shit people can do to surprise me this comes along.

LOL. If you're a parent who is idiotic enough to do this, those kids need to be removed from your custody.

What kind of idiot parents would deliberately infect their children with a disease, all because they're afraid of vaccination? That's a job for CPS if I ever saw one.

I have to agree with everyone else, I'm all for choosing to not vaccinate your kids, but you don't invite trouble, I had the chickenpox twice but we were never able to find out where I got it from, and I'm for keeping it that way. Sending kids to an infected kid to deliberately get all of theirs sick, that is so stupid because even if you DO have your kid vaccinated, you would not deliberately send them to a sick kid's house, would you?

Anyone who would isn't fit to have custody of their children.

CeCe wrote:

Just when I think there's no more stupid shit people can do to surprise me this comes along.

Amen!!

Does anybody know why the big need to have chickenpox done and over with??? Is it much "worse" if you get it in adulthood???

Because next year I am going to get a shingles vaccination, and shingles only hits people who had chickenpox. NOT a condition I want to deal with!

I got chickenpox when I was 3, which was very mild, but my brother had it as a child and it was very severe for him, and then I got it again when I was 18 and he was 23, and we both had 'bad' cases, we had hundreds of pox (I had 100 on each hip alone) and itched like hell for two weeks, MY head swelled up to the point my mother was worried, but the itching aside it wasn't one of the worse sick trips I've had.

Bluesmama wrote:

Does anybody know why the big need to have chickenpox done and over with??? Is it much "worse" if you get it in adulthood???

Because next year I am going to get a shingles vaccination, and shingles only hits people who had chickenpox. NOT a condition I want to deal with!

My wife had shingles last year. I guess it was a mild case but still no fun. I was getting over the chicken pox when Neil Srmstrong was walking on the Moon. And yes, parents who do what's in the article need to be, um, "sanctioned".

My mom had shingles once and a neighbor of ours told her to put Lanacane (sp?) on them, and she did and they went away with no trouble and she didn't get them again for about 20 years.