Parents leary of vaccine hosting 'chickenpox parties'

PITTSBURGH -- The kids who attend parties at Connie Shoemaker's house get something more than ice cream or cake. They get exposed to chickenpox.

Shoemaker and other parents leery of the relatively new chickenpox vaccine are holding "chickenpox parties," inviting healthy children to play with infected ones in hopes the youngsters will catch the disease and gain lifetime immunity.

"It's a natural way to deal with the problem instead of introducing more chemicals into kids," Shoemaker said.

She said she is not anti-vaccine -- she has had her children vaccinated against other diseases. But with the vaccine only 6 years old, she said she is not sure whether it really protects people for life, and she believes she is avoiding more serious complications from chickenpox in adulthood.

"To me, I wanted to deal with the known factor, not the unknown factor," said Shoemaker, who also home-schools her children.

Such gatherings have been around, at least informally, for years, even before the chickenpox vaccine, and for childhood diseases such as mumps and measles, too. Parents knew their children would eventually get such diseases and wanted to get it over with at their convenience.

Health officials discourage such gatherings.

Chickenpox is usually no more serious than fever and itchy spots, but there are risks, particularly in grown-ups. The disease can cause brain swelling, pneumonia and skin infections in children and adults, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians.

"I think there has been a general misconception that chickenpox is a benign disease," said Dr. Karin Galil, an infectious-disease specialist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Before the chickenpox vaccine, 100 people died annually and 5,000 to 9,000 were hospitalized. The vaccine is safe and up to 95 percent effective against mild to serious strains, Galil said, and those who do contract chickenpox despite being vaccinated develop less severe cases.

Generally, people who have chickenpox are immune for life, but a small number get the disease more than once. Galil said the CDC believes the vaccine will last a lifetime, citing studies in Japan that show it has protected people for 25 years so far. Doctors say serious reactions are rare.

Getting infected

Last month, Shoemaker sent her three children to the house of a friend whose child had chickenpox, hoping they would catch the highly contagious virus. It worked, and since then, Shoemaker, who lives in Butler about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh, has held three chickenpox parties for other families.

Two weeks ago, Tammy Swanberg, 38, took two of her children, ages 3 and 5, to Shoemaker's house to get them infected. As of Wednesday, they had not developed any symptoms.

"I think that vaccines can have their place, but sometimes I think our society just abuses them," Swanberg said.

Some of those who choose intentional infection are leery of vaccines in general or cite religious reasons.