When it comes to the paraphernalia of barbecuing, they're as ubiquitous as charcoal briquettes, propane tanks and burger flippers. But those wire brushes used to clean the grill can be potentially deadly -- and in the most insidious way.
In the past year, doctors at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children have had to remove broken-off wire bristles from the throats of three patients; in one case, the barb migrated through the child's neck and could have perforated a major blood vessel.
The bristles had been left behind on the grill after the brushes were used to scrub off greasy gunk left behind by flaming steaks, burgers and other fare -- then got stuck on food that was cooked later.
When the children ate the food, the metal bristles became lodged in the esophagus and could have done serious damage, said Dr. Paolo Campisi, an ear, nose and throat specialist at the hospital, who is calling for an industry-wide review of safety standards associated with cleaning barbecue grills and other cooking surfaces.
"When you see a cluster of things, you certainly worry about that and we just don't want to see other children injured with the same problem," Dr. Campisi said.
The most serious case by far was that of 15-year-old Jamie Harris, who had a wire bristle lodge in his esophagus during a meal at his Toronto home last fall -- except that neither he nor his parents realized that's what had occurred.
"We were eating steak and I was really hungry, so I took like a huge chunk of it and swallowed it," said the teen. "And I felt sort of a cutting feeling at the back of my throat and I couldn't swallow any food afterwards. I thought it was just a scratch from the steak because it had a burnt piece on the end, so I thought it was just a burnt piece that cut my throat."
When both he and his mom, Wendy Lockyer, awoke the next morning with fever and fatigue, they thought they had come down with a bug. That's what their doctor thought, too. After taking throat swabs to test for strep and mononucleosis, they were sent home.
"What really triggered our concerns is when I got better and he did not," said Ms. Lockyer. Ten days later -- still feverish, too tired to go to school and still unable to eat properly because his neck was so swollen -- Jamie was taken to a walk-in clinic. An X-ray showed a three-centimetre-long object lodged in the teen's neck, and he was told to get to Sick Kids without delay.
"When I looked at the X-ray, I knew right away what it was, because we'd seen it already a couple of times that year," said Dr. Campisi. A CT scan showed the chunk of metal had perforated the esophagus and migrated into the side of the neck just above the shoulder, where it floated in a capsule of pus between the carotid artery and the jugular vein.
Dr. Campisi and another surgeon operated, opening Jamie's neck from the outside to retrieve the bristle. "He very quickly turned the corner and got better."
While Ms. Lockyer was relieved that her son would be okay, she said "the implications were very scary."
"I'm not entirely sure at what point you're supposed to know that your barbecue bristles will start to fall off," said Ms. Lockyer, admitting she's used the brushes for years. "We haven't used one since. We use a scraper and then wipe it off."
John Vukanovich, president of the Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association of Canada, said he had never heard of barbecue brush bristles breaking off and being ingested, but agreed it's cause for concern. Donna Myers, a spokeswoman for the HPBA in the United States, also said grill manufacturers were unaware of the problem. "We will certainly try to make people aware of it." She suggested consumers wash their grills under running water after scrubbing them with a brush.
Dr. Campisi, who will soon publish an article on Jamie's case in the Journal of Pediatric Surgery, said a number of other cases have been cited in medical literature, going back to the early 1950s.
"It doesn't occur every day, but the potential complications of such an ingestion are very serious, and if we can avoid another child going through the same experience, then we should warn the public."
As for Jamie -- despite all his friends thinking his 10-centimetre-long neck scar is "awesome" -- is unequivocal in his opinion of barbecue brushes. "I hate them," said the Grade 10 student, who still can't bring himself to eat steak.
