Save yourself a trip to the ER.
Dr. Meghan Martin (@Beachgem10), a pediatric emergency medicine doctor with four kids of her own, is calling out the top five “weird summer things” she doesn’t like.
Though she admitted some of these things might be “strange” to worry about, she also pointed out that they’re all “fairly preventable” injuries and illnesses.
#1: The picnic potluck
Dr. Martin isn’t necessarily coming for your picnic or your potluck — but she is warning against dangerous food practices that are all too common at these kinds of gatherings.
Specifically, she’s sounding warning bells about all of those dishes sitting out at room temperature — or worse, in the summer heat — for hours, with people continuously picking at the offerings.
When the temperature’s in the “danger zone” — that is, 40 to 140 degrees — bacteria can thrive, which means you may be taking home some serious GI issues with your leftovers.
Many experts recommend following the two-hour rule, only putting out small portions at a time and keeping the rest in the fridge or a cooler with ice.
“If your room temperature is above 90 degrees, then your window to leave food out should shorten to one hour,” Chris Potter, executive sous chef at Northwell Health’s South Shore University Hospital, previously told The Post.
#2: Metal wire grill brushes
Wire grill brushes are far from harmless — and actually send 130 to the ER each year.
Dr. Martin is urging people to stop using them, since those wire bristles can break off into your food, ultimately ending up inside your body, causing injury.
“The worst possible consequence of accidentally swallowing a wire bristle is developing an abscess (serious infection) and/or perforation of the intestine, which can lead to death,” Dr. Tonia Farmer, an ear, nose and throat surgeon based in Ohio, previously told The Post.
She’s seen them lodged in the back of the tongue and the tonsils — but they’re often harder for doctors to pinpoint.
“It can be very difficult to find embedded wire bristles,” Farmer said. “It’s literally like swallowing and trying to find a needle in a haystack.”
#3: Trampolines
Dr. Martin is hardly the first doctor to warn parents against trampolines.
“We see so many broken bones, especially legs, on trampolines,” she said, noting that docs have even named certain injuries “trampoline fractures.
The risk isn’t only about falling off — though there have been horror stories of children dying that way. Building your trampoline into the ground isn’t enough, she said — lots of kids get hurt on the trampoline itself.
#4: Mosquito bites
Yes, but bites are annoying — but mosquitos can also carrying viruses like West Nile and Eastern Equine Encephalitis.
Start with a mosquito repellant and be on the lookout for troubling symptoms.
#5: Brain-eating amoeba
Naegleria fowleri, the brain-eating amoeba, is scary stuff — and recently killed a 12-year-old boy in South Carolina. Two years ago, it killed a toddler in Nevada.
Dr. Martin notes that they love warm fresh water, and “if it gets up your nose, there’s a risk that that amoeba can get into your brain.”
“Don’t dive into fresh water lakes,” she said.
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