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Pediatrician Warns Parents About Cicadas



 
 
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  #1  
Old May 16th 04, 05:34 AM
Karen Jeweler
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Default Pediatrician Warns Parents About Cicadas


Pediatrician Warns Parents About Cicadas

Fri May 14, 1:04 PM ET

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - First there was the girl who fell
off her bike fleeing a flying cicada. Then a boy trying
to swat a cicada out of the air with a baseball bat instead
hit his friend in the nose.

The final straw came when another child hurt his hand
trying to squish a cicada under a car's tires. Dr. Ray
Baker of Cincinnati Children's Hospital was convinced --
cicadas can be a safety hazard to children.

Starting this week and lasting into June, billions and
possibly even trillions of cicadas will emerge across
much of the eastern half of the United States.

The thumb-sized insects are harmless, but they are
large, noisy and clumsy. They climb out of their
underground homes en masse after 17 years of slow
development with only one goal in mind -- finding a mate.

The last time this happened at such a scale was in
1987, and Baker was working in the emergency room of
Cincinnati Children's.

"We just noticed when this all started, children were
coming in and having injuries related to cicadas,"
Baker said in a telephone interview.

"After the third or fourth one we decided to keep a
list."

They noted 12 injuries that were fairly significant,
Baker said. He wrote a letter to the journal Pediatrics
afterward, outlining the cases.

"They were all related to kids trying to get away
from what they perceived as cicadas flying at them,
or the children were trying to kill them," Baker said.

"They do freak people out. They are big. They are
bigger than most other flying things and they really
don't seem to have any tremendous purpose in which
direction they are flying."

Several children fell off bikes, Baker said. "We had a
concussion, a 9-year-old who was fleeing a cicada on her
bicycle and fell off," he said.

Another child hit his head on a brick wall while he was
running away from one of the insects.

"We had a stab wound to the arm from a kid who was
trying to kill a cicada on the arm of another child but
unfortunately he was using a knife," Baker added.

"Another kid tried to kick one under a lawn mower and cut
his foot, and we saw a crush injury to the hand when a kid
tried to put a cicada under the wheels of a moving car."

All parents can do is try and supervise their children and
remind them that that the cicadas are harmless, Baker advised.

"There's a lot on the news, but I think that just gets
kids kind of excited," he said. "Kids don't always do what
they are told."

=====================
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  #2  
Old May 16th 04, 02:00 PM
Kari
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We dont live far enough south to really see them by the gazillion but I
think it's very fascinating!!!

Just had to add that

Kari
mom to Kaylie (8) Noah (5) and Xander (7 mos)


  #3  
Old May 16th 04, 02:21 PM
Sophie
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"Kari" wrote in message
...
We dont live far enough south to really see them by the gazillion but I
think it's very fascinating!!!

Just had to add that

Kari
mom to Kaylie (8) Noah (5) and Xander (7 mos)



We have them here. They're so loud. A friend of mine who's English was
terrified to touch her jog stroller that she left outside last year cos this
HUGE bug was on it. She was *fascinated* when I told her it was just the
shell and what it was. My kids picked up a shell and kept it on the kitchen
counter for ages, creeped me out. I won't touch them.


  #4  
Old May 16th 04, 04:37 PM
Cathy Weeks
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Karen Jeweler wrote in message ...

Starting this week and lasting into June, billions and
possibly even trillions of cicadas will emerge across
much of the eastern half of the United States.


I think the last time the 17-year cicadas came out, it was also the
same year that the seven-year cicadas came out so it was an
unusually-heavy concentration. I remember going to a craft fair and
the throb of sound from them was so loud it actually hurt my ears at
times.

The last time the 7-year ones came out, I remember finding the shells
all over our back yard. I agree, they are both facinating and creepy.

Cathy Weeks
Mommy to Kivi Alexis 12/01
  #5  
Old May 16th 04, 06:13 PM
Denise Anderson
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"Sophie"

We have them here. They're so loud. A friend of mine who's English was
terrified to touch her jog stroller that she left outside last year cos

this
HUGE bug was on it. She was *fascinated* when I told her it was just the
shell and what it was. My kids picked up a shell and kept it on the

kitchen
counter for ages, creeped me out. I won't touch them.


When I lived in Virginia, I thought they were the coolest things ever. When
I went home to Florida they creeped me out. Must be a grown up thing

Denise




  #6  
Old May 17th 04, 01:33 PM
Rosalie B.
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"Denise Anderson" wrote:


"Sophie"

We have them here. They're so loud. A friend of mine who's English was
terrified to touch her jog stroller that she left outside last year cos

this
HUGE bug was on it. She was *fascinated* when I told her it was just the
shell and what it was. My kids picked up a shell and kept it on the

kitchen
counter for ages, creeped me out. I won't touch them.


When I lived in Virginia, I thought they were the coolest things ever. When
I went home to Florida they creeped me out. Must be a grown up thing

I don't think so - or maybe I'm not grown up yet.

The cicadas where I live (southern MD) apparently are on a different
cycle. There's no sign of them yet.


grandma Rosalie
 




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