Author:
Nero
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Date Posted: Friday, January 28, 2011, 10:18: am
Mercury-in-glass rectal thermometers have had an incredible track record for safety. Neither tightening the muscles nor trying to expell the thermometer would be likely to break it. The main hazard was rectal perforation if forced in at the wrong angle, especially in a struggling child. However, I reviewed the issue in medical journals a number of years ago and found the reported number of rectal perforations was amazing low, usually 10 or fewer in review articles. When you consider that for 70 years or so this was the principle way of taking children's, and many adult's temperatures, that these temps were often taken by untrained individuals and on resisting patients, it becomes even more amazing. The aledged "hazard" is the mercury, even though the amount was miniscule and most of us growing up at this time played with the mercury without any problem when the thermometer was dropped and broke. Incidentally, while the sale of mercury thermometer have been banned, I understand the new light bulb we will be forced to buy contains, guess what? Mercury.
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