Photo: Annals of Emergency Medicine (2)
A 19-year-old woman suffered severe neck burns after her necklace came in contact with her generic cell phone charger, prompting experts to warn others to keep their charging phones away from their beds.
The woman’s story was recently highlighted as a case report in theAnnals of Emergency Medicine.
The scientific journal said she was wearing a chain necklace while lying in bed with her generic iPhone charger plugged into the wall and sitting beneath her pillow.
She was taken to the emergency room at the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital after feeling a “sudden burning sensation” and severe pain around her neck, which she later learned was a second-degree burn.
Doctors concluded she’d likely suffered an electrical injury after her charger sent a current through the necklace.
“Generic phone chargers can cause burns or electrocutions,” lead author Dr. Carissa Bunke, a pediatric resident at the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, said in a statement. “Teens and adolescents are particularly at risk of injury due to their frequent mobile device use. They should be advised to not sleep with their phones or mobile devices charging in bed and avoid leaving the charger plugged in when it is not connected to a phone.”
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The difference lies in a chip Apple includes in its chargers, which corresponds with the phone and helps it avoid becoming overheated or overpowered, Eddie Prestopine, manager at CPR Cell Phone Repair in Shreveport, La., toldABC affiliate KTBS.
In another, only three of 400 generic chargers passed tests for electric shock safety risks.
Incidents similar to that of the 19-year-old have been reported before; last month, a Louisiana woman suffered an arm burn after she fell asleep while her phone was plugged into a generic charger on her bed, according to KTBS.
source: people.com
