The Blogging Boyds

Tuesday, January 2, 2007

My MOMYS Post on Chicken Pox

Posted in Mommy Babble

I am posting on the subject again after thinking on it a full 24 hours.  I only today had the words and websites to fully state my case on the subject.  This post is humbly submitted and is only meant to educate and inform...no malice or hard feelings are added!

  • Yanno, I thought about not saying anything more about it, but then I knew what I had thought was kind of funny (chicken pox through the mail) was also potentially fatal and illegal to mail.  But, as chicken pox was a "rite of passage" childhood disease and considered one of those "irritating skin conditions", I knew I needed to back up my comments with facts.  Below I have included sites on chicken pox, including one that discusses pregnancy and chicken pox.  I have also included the US Postal regulations on shipping biohazards.  Chicken pox is an infectious disease, possible of causing disability or fatality, which makes it a Category A infectious substance, which makes it non-mailable.  If you mail it, you are breaking the law.  Even if it were "shippable", a ziploc bag wouldn't be enough for a biohazard.  A t-shirt or toothbrush containing an infectious disease is NO different than a swab containing a culture, and there are rules governing mailing items like that.  If you are so sure of your stance, you shouldn't be afraid to put INFECTIOUS DISEASE on your package, along with your name and address.
  • 1 Peter 2:13-17 states, "Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men; whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.  For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.  Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.  Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king."  Liberty is not license to do as we please.  There are rules to follow...man's rules...and God fully expects us to follow them.
  • Also, I don't think it is a Biblical model to sacrifice the many (everyone coming in to contact with the chicken pox package) for the one (those wanting to expose their children to chicken pox).  The true Biblical model would be The One (Jesus) sacrificed for the many (us).  I don't want to offend, but I think it is pretty callous to say that chicken pox is out there and to knowingly put people in harm's way.  So is AIDS, malaria, TB, hepatitis, e-coli, and polio...but I doubt any of us would like to be exposed to those!  Dawn Rosevelt posted this to MOMYS, "I knew a young woman who got chicken pox in the first trimester of her pregnancy and her baby was born severely handicapped and almost brain dead.  She was like a 3 month old baby her whole life. They said is was most likely the high fever from the chicken pox that did it. Her daughter lives 5 years I think."  I think that speaks volumes, and if that doesn't bring tears to your eyes, I don't know what will.  Aside from babies, there are people out there that haven't had chicken pox, and some, such as my Dad, with compromised immune systems (my Dad has lung cancer) who cannot fight off infections.  We shouldn't throw caution to the wind, and put these people in harms way for our own pursuits.
  • Chicken Pox:
    http://www.reutershealth.com/wellconnected/doc82.html
    http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/pregnancy/pregcomplications/9329.html
    http://www.cdc.gov/nip/diseases/varicella/#serious
    http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/chickenpox/DS00053
  • US Post Office Regulations:
    http://pe.usps.gov/text/dmm300/601.htm#wp1064962
    http://pe.usps.gov/text/dmm300/601.htm#wp1065177
  • 10.17.2 Definitions
    [11-1-06] The terms used in the standards for Division 6.2 materials are defined as follows:

a. Infectious substance means a material known or reasonably expected to contain a pathogen. A pathogen is a microorganism that can cause disease in humans or animals. Examples of pathogens include bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other infectious agents. An infectious substance must be assigned to one of the following two categories:

1. Category A: An infectious substance transported in a form capable of causing permanent disability or life-threatening or fatal disease in otherwise healthy humans or animals when exposure occurs. Category A infectious substances are not mailable. A Category A infectious substance is assigned the identification number UN 2814 or UN 2900, based on the known medical history or symptoms of the source patient or animal, endemic local conditions, or professional judgment concerning the individual circumstances of the source human or animal.

2. Category B: An infectious substance that does not meet the criteria for inclusion in Category A. A mailpiece known or suspected to contain a Category B infectious substance must bear the proper shipping name "Biological substance, Category B" on the address side of the mailpiece and must be assigned to and marked with identification number UN 3373 or, for regulated medical waste and sharps medical waste, identification number UN 3291.

b. Biological product means a virus, therapeutic serum, toxin, antitoxin, vaccine, blood, blood component or derivative, allergenic product, or analogous product or arsphenamine or derivative of arsphenamine (or any other trivalent arsenic compound) intended to prevent, treat, or cure a disease or condition of humans or animals. A biological product includes a material subject to regulation under 42 U.S.C. 262 or 21 U.S.C. 151-159. Unless otherwise excepted, mark these mailpieces with identification number UN 3373 when they contain a biological product known or reasonably expected to contain a pathogen that meets the definition of a Category B infectious substance.

c. Cultures are infectious substances that result from a process by which pathogens are intentionally propagated. This definition does not include a human or animal patient specimen as defined in 10.17.2e.

d. Exempt human or animal specimen means a human or animal sample (including, but not limited to, secreta, excreta, blood and its components, tissue and tissue fluids, and body parts) transported for routine testing not related to the diagnosis of an infectious disease. Typically, exempt human specimens are specimens for which there is a low probability that the sample is infectious, such as specimens for drug or alcohol testing; cholesterol testing; blood glucose level testing; prostate-specific antigens (PSA) testing; testing to monitor heart, kidney, or liver function; pregnancy testing; and testing for diagnosis of noninfectious diseases such as cancer biopsies. Exempt human or animal specimens are not subject to regulation as hazardous materials but must be packaged according to 10.17.10.

e. Patient specimen means material that is collected directly from humans or animals and transported for purposes such as diagnosis and research. Patient specimens include excreta, secreta, blood and its components, tissue and tissue swabs, body parts, and specimens in transport media (such as transwabs, culture media, and blood culture bottles).

f. Regulated medical waste, for USPS purposes, means a soft waste material (other than a sharp) derived from the medical treatment, diagnosis, immunization, or biomedical research of a human or animal. Soft medical waste includes items such as used rubber gloves, swabs, gauze, tongue depressors, and other similar material. Mark these mailpieces with identification number UN 3291.

g. Sharps medical waste, for USPS purposes, means a medical waste object that is capable of cutting or penetrating skin or packaging material and that is contaminated with a pathogen or may become contaminated with a pathogen derived from the medical treatment, diagnosis, immunization, or biomedical research of a human or animal. Sharps include used medical waste such as needles, syringes, scalpels, broken glass, culture slides, culture dishes, broken capillary tubes, broken rigid plastic, and exposed ends of dental wires. Mark these mailpieces with identification number UN 3291.

h. Toxin means a Division 6.1 material from a plant, animal, or bacterial source. A toxin containing an infectious substance or a toxin contained in an infectious substance must be classed as Division 6.2, described as an infectious substance, and assigned to UN 2814, UN 2900, or UN 3373, as appropriate. A toxin known or suspected to contain a Category A infectious substance is not mailable. A toxin known or suspected to contain a Category B infectious substance must be marked UN 3373 and packaged under 10.17.5. Toxins from plant, animal, or bacterial sources that do not contain an infectious substance, and are not contained in an infectious substance, may be considered for classification as Division 6.1 toxic substances under 10.16.

i. Used health care product means a medical, diagnostic, or research device or piece of equipment, or a personal care product used by consumers, medical professionals, or pharmaceutical providers that does not meet the definition of a diagnostic specimen, biological product, regulated medical waste, or sharps waste, is contaminated with potentially infectious body fluids or materials, and is not decontaminated or disinfected to remove or mitigate the infectious hazard prior to transport.


Humbly submitted,
Traci Boyd in AL <><
MOMY to 7 wonderful children (none of which have had chicken pox yet)


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The ups and downs of homeschooling and everyday life of a large family that is forever stuck in the CRAYON ZONE!!!! Read about the joyous moments and the trials of 2 adults and 7 children living in a little bitty farmhouse in the middle of town!

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