Word: viruses
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...think it is a good idea.' DR. RICHARD JARVIS, chairman of the British Medical Association's public-health committee, on reports that Britons are hosting "swine-flu parties" in an attempt to build immunity to the virus...
...panic despite a surge in the number of cases of H1N1 influenza in the country. Now it seems health officials have the opposite problem: they are urging parents not to hold "swine flu parties" that some people believe will build up children's immunity by infecting them with the virus...
...held "chicken pox parties" at the beginning of summer so that children could catch the disease at a convenient time. But recent chatter on various Internet sites has health officials worried that parents are planning similar events for swine flu in order to make their children immune to the virus should it mutate into a more lethal form. In a statement on Tuesday, Sir Liam Donaldson, Britain's Chief Medical Officer, said such parties were the result of "seriously flawed thinking." (See pictures of swine flu hitting Mexico...
...would never recommend intentionally exposing anyone to swine flu," Donaldson said. "We don't yet know enough about the risk profile of the virus, and while it has generally been mild in the U.K., in some parts of the world, young, previously healthy adults have died. Parents would never forgive themselves if they exposed a vulnerable child to serious illness." (See pictures of thermal scanners hunting for swine...
...David Cummings, a 50-year-old London resident whose two children are suspected of having swine flu, says he and other parents have a relaxed view of the virus, although he says no one would intentionally expose their children to the disease. "I don't know any parents seriously considering the idea of a swine flu party, but I think parents have seen how mild the illness is and are no longer anxious about their children contracting the illness," he says. Health officials may wince at such sangfroid in the face of the virus, but, says Cummings: "Parents are shrugging...