A four-year-old girl has died after swallowing a lithium battery on the Sunshine Coast, Australia yesterday.
The girl, from Tewantin, was taken in a critical condition to Noosa Hospital about 8.15am Sunday suffering stomach bleeding.
The toddler was thereafter flown by a medical helicopter to the Royal Brisbane Hospital in a critical condition on Sunday afternoon, but died from her injuries.
Susan Teerds from Kidsafe Queensland told ABC radio the button-shaped batteries are found in many common household items.
“When a child swallows a battery it often gets caught in the oesophagus, around the voice box. Once it’s been lodged, within an hour, it will start to burn a hole,” she said.
“The saliva actually starts a chemical reaction and burns a hole through the oesophagus and can keep burning a hole into the aorta, through to the spine and whatever else is there.”
The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, ACCC website warns that ingesting this kind of battery could lead to perforation of the oesophagus as it lodges in the throat and burns a hole.
Acid could then leak from the battery and cause tissue damage and fatal internal bleeding.
Lithium batteries are common in toys, wristwatches, remotes and thermometers.
Definitely consider that which you said. Your favorite reason seemed to be at the net the simplest thing to have in mind of. I say to you, I definitely get irked at the same time as folks consider worries that they just don’t recognize about. You controlled to hit the nail upon the highest and defined out the whole thing with no need side-effects , other folks can take a signal. Will probably be again to get more. Thanks