Some parents in California are said to be talking about having measles parties, parties where they intentionally expose their children to measles so that they get the disease and thus have immunity to it. Whether there is any truth to this rumor, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has issued a warning telling parents that it is bad idea all around.
"CDPH strongly recommends against the intentional exposure of children to measles as it unnecessarily places the exposed children at potentially grave risk and could contribute to further spread," said department spokeswoman Anita Gore.
But are measles parties actually a thing? It may be just a rumor, according to Snopes.com, the website that serves as a clearinghouse for all types of internet myths and urban legends. Discussing a story about possible parties near San Francisco, Snopes stated: "No timeframe was supplied in any of the articles or segments, the locality in which they purportedly occurred ("the Bay Area") was broad, and even vague references to any specific incidents involving a real-life measles parties were absent in these reports."
The idea of measles parties possibly stems from actual chicken pox parties that some parents have held for their children to expose them to chicken pox both before and after a vaccine against the disease was created. Before chicken pox vaccine was available, the idea was to make sure children had the infection when they were young and more likely to have a milder case. After a vaccine against chicken pox became available, some parents who were against vaccinations chose to try to "inoculate" their children that way and to boost their immune systems.
In any event, a measles party would be a very bad idea. The younger a child is when he or she catches measles, the more dangerous the infection can be. Measles remains one of the leading causes of death in children around the world, largely in countries that do not have access to a measles vaccine. It can also damage vision and hearing.