Doctors warn parents against 'swine flu parties'

(CNN) UPDATED 2009-06-30

Parents should not hold "swine flu parties" in an effort to infect their children with the H1N1 virus and boost their children's immunity against it, health officials warn. Discussions about having the parties--which are similar to those held for children to expose them to chicken pox--have been cropping up on Internet forums recently. The idea is that exposing a child to the swine virus while it remains a relatively mild infection will give the child immunity if the virus returns in a more virulent form later. But health officials have been quick to condemn the idea, saying that though the virus is relatively mild in its current form, patients get seriously ill, and there is still a chance of mortality from contracting it. Read full story >

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