Antoine Flahault’s blog

There has been a lot of comment in France recently about swine ‘flu parties (Slate.fr, Le Monde) thrown in Britain and the USA with people who have the influenza ‘flu A (H1N1) virus in an attempt to gain immunity. It used to be common practice many years ago, before the introduction of vaccines, for mothers to expose their children to chickenpox so that they would contract the disease as young as possible and be protected against it for the rest of their lives. They organised “pox parties”, the star guest being a child with chickenpox. Are swine ‘flu parties comparable to pox parties? Are they a good idea? Given that the virus of this 2009 ‘flu pandemic is considered to be milder than that of seasonal ‘flu, it is understandable that some people may be tempted to try to contract the virus by contact in this way, in case the virus should mutate and become more virulent, or simply to gain natural immunity before the autumn. Surely this is forgetting rather quickly that flu is a collective problem. Firstly, by passing on the virus at these gatherings, people are helping to fan the reproduction rate of the epidemic and make the epidemic more widespread that it would otherwise have been. So long as these parties are few and far between, this rather moral argument claims that such practices are counter to civil responsibility and will have little effect on the consciences of those determined to do individual battle with this virus. More importantly, again a moral argument but one which has a more legal basis, is the question of secondary infection after these parties. People who have caught the virus at swine flu ‘parties will go back home, possibly come in contact with pregnant women, babies, people who have other illnesses, elderly people or people who are vulnerable. Or if they don’t come into direct contact with such people, they will probably in their turn infect people at work or friends who will then infect vulnerable people with disastrous results. These people did not intend to be part of this long chain of transferring the virus. Possibly, without having been infected at an early stage, these people may have been able to have benefited in the autumn from having a priority claim to vaccination.

A mother with a child with an immune deficiency would never have sent another of her children to intentionally catch chickenpox from a friend at a party. She would have realised that whereas chickenpox might not have any particular complications for a healthy child, it could cause major problems for someone with an immune deficiency. These pox parties were, therefore, only arranged between families in good health. As 98% of adults over 20 were already immune to chickenpox, children with chickenpox did not pose a threat to their parents or grandparents. All turned out for the best. However, nowadays, people prefer vaccinating their children, avoiding pain and complications and without the risk of infecting family and friends.

Influenza is more complex. You may be entitled to play at Russian roulette, where each person has the right to put his own life at risk, especially knowing that the cylinder is mainly loaded with blanks, but in this game of stray bullets there are no blanks. Flu is Russian roulette WITH stray bullets. It makes for a game that is far more dangerous.