NEW YORK — It seems logical: Why not try to get sick with swine flu now, and get some immunity in case it comes roaring back this fall in a deadlier form? Sort of like those "pox parties” to get your kids exposed to a disease.
Bad idea, flu experts say. It’s too risky.
It’s true that once your body has encountered a particular virus strain, it is generally better able to fight it off later on. Vaccines work by masquerading as germs, priming the immune system to attack particular bugs.
Dr. William Schaffner, a flu expert at Vanderbilt University, said there’s no way to predict how bad a case of flu will be in a particular person. Given the risk of life-threatening complications, "this is not something where you want to do a biological experiment,” he said.
"You can’t control the infection that you’re going to get, and you may be the one, or your child may be the one, that gets a severe infection.”
What’s more, a person who decides to get sick can accidentally pass it along to other, more vulnerable people, even before any symptoms show up, Schaffner said.
Dr. Robert Atmar, a flu researcher at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, agreed. He said he would "strongly recommend against” purposely trying to catch the new flu.
And it’s not yet clear that swine flu will return in deadlier form this fall.
He also said flu medicines should be available to ease symptoms of patients during the winter flu season, and that scientists hope a vaccine will be ready by then.
by the associated press
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