Fighting Summer Pests
By Steven Howard, M.D.
Summer is a time for baseball and barbeques. Unfortunately, it's also the time for poison oak, mosquitoes and ticks.
Poison oak is covered by an oily resin called urushiol, which can cause a rash. You can get poison oak from anything that comes into contact with the plant, including pets, garden tools or shoes. After exposure, the rash can take up to 21 days to appear. Read more about fighting summer pests...
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Additional Articles
Pregnancy: Health and Safety: Birth to 2 Years
Children: Bite Injuries in Children
Preteens: Home Alone
Teens: Tanning and Sun Exposure
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Recommended Web Sites
National Headache Awareness Week (June 7-13)
www.headaches.org
The National Headache Foundation (NHF) reports that more than half of all children experience headaches. Fortunately, once your child's doctor discovers the cause and type of the headache, there are many safe and effective approaches or medications that can prevent a headache from occurring or stop it after it has started. Visit the NHF Web site to learn about the different types and causes of headaches in children and how you and your doctor can help.
National ASK (Asking Saves Kids) Day (June 21)
www.paxusa.org
Parents ask all sorts of questions to protect their children when they go play at the home of a friend, neighbor or relative. But there is one important question that more than half of parents say it never even occurred to them to ask: "Is there a gun where my child plays?" According to the non-profit gun-violence prevention group PAX, more than 40 percent of homes with children have a gun, and many of those guns are left unlocked or loaded. Just talking to your child about the dangers of firearms is not enough. Children are naturally curious. If a gun is accessible in someone's home, there is a good chance a child will find it and play with it. Visit PAX's Ask Day Web site for stories, statistics and advice on how you can help keep children safe from guns.
Fireworks Safety Month (June)
www.preventblindness.org
Fireworks are exciting, fun and spectacular, but decades of experience have taught us that they can be dangerous and should be left to professional fireworks handlers. According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), children age 15 and younger suffer more than 50 percent of all fireworks injuries in the United States – and sparklers are the highest cause of fireworks injuries requiring trips to the emergency room. Visit the Preventing Eye Injuries from Fireworks Web page and take the Fireworks Eye Injury Safety Quiz.
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