The article reflects on how children's game 'cooties' still resonates with kids today while underlining serious health issues. Observing a group of children, the author recalls the game's humor and irony amid a rising vaccine skepticism and actual disease outbreaks, specifically measles. Despite its playful nature, 'cooties' embodies deeper public health themes as researchers have connected this childhood terminology with definitions concerning infection and disease, emphasizing the need for continued awareness and education regarding children's health.
Beyond being amused, I was struck by the morbid salience of a children's game that mimics infection at a time when vaccine skepticism is on the rise and an outbreak of a non-pretend disease, measles, is threatening the lives of children in the Southwest.
What exactly are cooties? Since at least the 1960s, field researchers have collected definitions of varying specificity from grammar-school respondents: "boys' germs," "girls' germs," "something that kills you," "like germs, it has germs on it," and others.
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