Doctor warns against dressing up as St. Nick

Forget “bad” and “good” — Santa should probably double check for “nausea” and “fever.”

Unfortunately, many men who don Santa suits every December don’t have the power to know where viruses might be lurking, inspiring a doctor — and sometimes Santa Claus — to publish his warnings about “Sick Santa Syndrome” in a journal medical in 1986.

Dr. Mark Dembert, an epidemiologist at the Naval Environmental Health Center in Norfolk, Virginia, had a happy gig in the ’80s: When he wasn’t studying disease, he dressed up as St. Nick to entertain children in children’s hospitals.

As it turned out, being Santa taught him a little about how disease spreads, and he wrote about his finding in the Journal of the American Medical Association in December 1986.

“I know of no published epidemiologic work on the morbidity associated with being Santa Claus,” he said. “However, my background as an infectious disease epidemiologist and my several years of experience as a seasonal but well-traveled Santa Claus for children and adults lead me to describe a new syndrome.”

Sick Santa syndrome, he said, has a combination of the following symptoms: low fever, muscle aches and pains, headache, nasal congestion, mild sinusitis, painful swallowing, cough, increased thirst, decreased appetite and enlarged lymph nodes.

He said the disease can occur in patients of any gender or age, but usually occurs between December and mid-January.

“Risk factors for this syndrome … include ho, ho, ho-ing; hug; listening; soothing and winking face to face,” he continued.

“There is very little that can be done to prevent the syndrome. Flu shots are warranted for this high-risk population. Vitamins can be valuable.”

Although vague, the details of Dr. Dembert’s article likely struck a chord at the time—and his “illness” caught the attention.

Speaking to UPI that year, he had to stop the interview to cough due to his outbreak of Sick Santa Syndrome.

“I’m pretty sure I got it on Saturday, playing Santa for 150 kids and the children’s hospital,” he said.

“Kids are kids and sneeze in your face and wipe their hands on your chin, and of course, I encourage that,” he said. “I love being around children, but it’s very easy to catch colds and things like measles and flu.”

Professional Santas are certainly well aware of the dangers of the job. John Sullivan, a professional Santa in Chicago, previously told ABC News that he never turns down a child, even if he is visibly ill.

“I will see him. I’ll talk to him,” Sullivan said. “That’s just a risk that honestly comes with the job … Santa can’t go around wearing a surgical mask!”

In fact, he said he could sometimes sense that a child was sick even if the parents didn’t know it yet.

“A lot of times when you pick up a baby, you can feel in their lungs that there’s congestion,” he said. “I’ll tell the parent the baby has a cold … Honestly, if I’m Santa, I never turn a baby away.”