It sounds like dumb, dumber and dumbest except it's also dangerous!
Doctors and medical experts are concerned about a new trend taking place on Facebook. Parents are talking about trading live viruses in order to infect their children.
Parents use the page to set up play dates with children who currently have chicken pox. Or they offer to send spit and lollipops that infected children have used. Experts say such lollipops could carry more dangerous viruses including hepatitis. Two people on the Facebook page were even looking for the much more serious measles, mumps, and rubella.
Medical experts say the most troubling part of this is parents are taking pathogens from complete strangers and deliberately infecting their children. "I could never feel good about purposely infecting a child with a disease like that," said Elizabeth Jacobs from the University of Arizona College of Public Health.
Another big concern is that they are advising readers to send the virus through the mail.
It is illegal to send infectious substances through the mail, except between very specialized and authorized parties who meet specific requirements. U.S. Attorney Jerry Martin was quoted as saying it is a federal crime to send diseases or viruses across state lines period.
The United States Postal Inspection Service has a Dangerous Mail Investigations program that can conduct aggressive investigations of individuals who violate federal laws, and Postal Service rules and regulations with a prohibited mailing. Their objective is to secure the nation’s mail system and ensure public trust against any substance that may cause harm to Postal Service employees, or Postal Service customers.
Refer to the Domestic Mail Manual for mailability regulations.
Section http://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c3_021.htm refers to infectious substances.
5 comments:
I find this hard to believe,what person in their right mind would...Oh look the next article is "I'm having Elvis's baby"...later
I find it hard to believe that supposed intelligent adults would let their children have a lollipop that was in another child's mouth!!
I can believe it. When I was about 10 years old we had a neighbor who would take her kids to a friend or relative's house if they knew their kids had measles, chicken pox and even whooping cough. Then she would proceed to any and every neighbors house to spead the diseases to other children. She would even try to send her kids to school. She said it would immune them to the viruses or to just get it out of the way. One of the neighbors that she happened to drop by (with her sick kids) had their baby get whooping cough and measles at the same time and was in the hospital for a month and just barely made it. She always thought my Mother was rude because we NEVER opened the door if they showed up.
All of these so-called "childhood illnesses" can kill. That is why it is so important for children to be immunized for those diseases for which immunizations are available.
I am glad the postal service is aware of this and is going to try to keep people from sending this threw the mail. I guess these people are really stupid. Why would you let some total stranger give your kid a disease!!! You don't know what eles that person may have besides the chicken pox!!! Plus if it is still an active virus going threw the mail how many people are going to catch whatever you are sending threw the mail. We all handle the mail and have a high chance of coming in contact with whatever they are sending threw the mail. Plus we will end up taking it home to our famlies. Did they ever stop to think if someone dies from this they can go to prison the rest of there lives for lacking common sense!?! Sometimes the only thing you can do is shake your head and wonder were there head is!!
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