MELBOURNE: Red alert: When your
smoking father comes close to give you a hug or a kiss, push him away and run in
the opposite direction.
According to Professor Robert Booy, director
of research at the National Centre for Immunisation and Research at
Sydney’s The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, smokers are prime
candidates for carrying the potentially deadly meningococcus bacteria in the
back of their throats.
Smokers generally carry more germs like
meningococcus, and hence family cuddles and kisses can pass
on dangerous
germs, even if they only smoke outside.
Booy claims the bug can be
passed to children through “normal family cuddles and kisses”, and
one in 10 children who go on to develop the rare meningococcal disease will die
from it, reports the Daily Telegraph.
Booy pointed to recent
University of Sydney research, which showed almost 92% of New South Wales
residents aged over 16 report they live in a house that is
smoke-free.
He said this showed how many parents who smoked went
outside to indulge their habit and this would reduce a child’s risk of
passive smoking-related middle ear infection and asthma, or even Sudden Infant
Death Syndrome.
The symptoms of meningococcal disease may include
sudden onset of fever, severe headache, drowsiness, sore legs or sore joints,
nausea and vomiting, a dislike of bright lights, a stiff neck and a rash of
red-purple spots. ani
|
