The percentage of children under the age of six who ingest foreign bodies, especially coins (15%), toy magnets, lithium microcells (91%), or caustic substances such as detergents and household cleaning products (5%) has almost doubled in the last 62 years. The latter are responsible for something like 7 hospitalizations per year.
"But if in 80% of cases - notes the Italian Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (Sigenp) - it is fortunately harmless objects, in the remaining 20% the consequences of these ingestions can also be very serious, in some cases fatal". So much so that the president of the scientific society, Claudio Romano, launches an alarm and asks the Minister of Health Orazio Schillaci for support in the creation of the "national register of accidents for ingestion of foreign and caustic bodies in Italy", the first act of a program to better address the problem.
The Sigenp program will be developed in particular on two other points: the training of endoscopic pediatricians prepared for these emergencies, to ensure that in the Centers there is always one available when needed; capillary information to families through a brochure distributed through schools, pharmacies, parents' association and also through social media to inform on how to prevent and the dangers of underestimation. The first warning to families is to never cause vomiting in the child who has ingested a dangerous substance because it risks causing more damage to the esophagus.