Thunderstorms plus mobile phones equal a dangerous combination

Jun 26 2006

According to British doctors people who use mobile phones outdoors during a thunderstorm, put themselves at risk of being struck by lightning.

Consultant surgeon Ram Dhillon along with two colleagues Swinda Esprit and Prasad Kothari, say using a mobile phone or an iPod during a thunderstorm can kill you.

According to the doctors from Northwick Park Hospital in northwest London, when someone is struck by lightning the high resistance of human skin results in lightning being conducted over the skin without entering the body; this is known as flashover.

Conductive materials in direct contact with skin such as liquids or metallic objects disrupt the flashover and result is internal injury with the possibility of serious consequences.

They say the commonest cause of death is usually cardiac arrest, but there is also severe disruption to other components within the body such as the central nervous system and blood vessels and also the lungs.

In a letter to the British Medical Journal, the three senior London doctors describe the case of a 15-year-old girl who was struck by lightning while using her mobile phone in a park during a storm.

Although successfully resuscitated, the girl was still in a wheelchair a year later and found to be suffering complex physical, cognitive and emotional problems.

The girl also had a perforated eardrum in the ear she had been holding the phone to.

The doctors say they have found three reports of people being killed by lightning while using mobiles outdoors.

The incidents took place in China in 2005, South Korea in 2004 and Malaysia in 1999.

They say though the phenomenon is rare it is a public health issue, and education is necessary to highlight the risk.

They are calling for British telecommunication companies to issue advice similar to that recommended by the Australian Lightning Protection Standard, that metallic objects, including cordless or mobile phones, should not be used, or carried, outdoors during a thunderstorm.