Swine flu parties!

The headline says it all. Apparently some people both have the humour and good sense of trying to infect themselves at social gatherings with several infected in the room.

‘Swine flu parties’ or, as a poster in Central London called it: “H1N1 party” are gatherings where people come into contact with someone(s) who has H1N1 flu to get infected with it on purpose.The idea is an extension of chicken pox and measles parties that were once a popular way of exposing children to those diseases so that they might acquire resistance to subsequent infections.

The expectation is the flu episode will be mild and the body will develop a natural immunity to the virus and, perhaps, down the line, have a natural immunity if the virus develop and mutate into something worse. Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. David Butler-Jones, have warned against H1N1 ‘flu parties’ in a published report and authorities in several countries is now advising against these events. Me, I’m wondering why. It is a fantastic idea!! I’m thinking of starting one or several of these events myself and I’m beating myself for not thinking about before. Of course one should throw such a party.

Flu epidemics often come in waves and there are some fears that a more virulent form of H1N1 may strike in the fall. That happened with the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918. Researchers at George Washington University in Washington DC have studied the 1918 pandemic and have found that in areas where there were more cases during the first wave of Spanish flu, there were fewer deaths during its second wave, in the fall of that year. So, I must ask, why are not more people throwing Swine Flu parties?

In an interview with BBC news the public health expert Dr Richard Jarvis is admitting that the Swine flu is a mild variation but it still holds risks. He is clearly against such parties (probably need to get laid) but speaking in his BMA capacity at the union's conference in Liverpool, admitted getting the virus now was likely to give people immunity even if it mutated slightly to become more virulent. So my question is, again, why is he or any authority against it? It makes no sense to be against something that clearly is a great idea. Instead of waiting for some stupid anti-virus that may or may not help and in the end will create a resistance, this is a much better solution and I will make damn sure to either visit or create one of these parties myself.

And to all you people out there, do the same! It is a fantastic way for students to get to know each other and families to form new bounds with neighbors and such. Although it is never fun getting sick and if you have some problems with other illnesses, this might not be the very best idea, but to all the rest of you, go get it! Yeah!