For decades boozing college students have judged the success of a party partly by the people who end up hovering over the toilet or trashcan.

Now they apparently aren’t the only ones who consider retching a worthwhile endeavor. A BBC report says people have been throwing swine flu parties. The thinking, if you can call it that, is that exposure now will build immunity in advance of winter and a possibly more virulent form of the bug.

Doctors, obviously, say that’s a bad idea. Although the flu is mild and some level of immunity is likely from exposure, it still isn’t pleasant and there’s very much a mortality risk. And intentional exposure kind of interferes with that whole pandemic-containment effort.

Here’s the story.

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