[Janelle Ward]

Do you clean your barbecue with a wire brush?

If so, you might want to choose another method.

A woman and a paediatrician have sounded a warning after a young boy complained of acute ear pain after eating a burger at a family barbecue.

His parents took him off to a hospital emergency department but they found nothing and advised them to give him a painkiller and see an ear, nose and throat specialist. That person also found nothing.

Days later, with her son still not wanting to eat or drink and with a fever, the pair returned to emergency.

Again, an ear examination was totally normal, but the doctor on duty found some swelling on the right side of his throat and ordered a CAT scan.

Eureka.

The boy had a two centimetre metal wire, from a grill brush, lodged in the peritonsillar tissues and an abscess had developed.

Metal wire from the grill brush had become lodged in the hamburger.

Time to ditch that wire brush?

[Author]

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