BBQ danger: Wires from grill cleaners swallowed in food

TUESDAY, April 3 (HealthDay News) -- Several Rhode Island residents had a brush with the emergency room because of sharp wire bristles that made their way from barbecue grills into their digestive tracts.

The wire bristles, which came from the metallic brushes used to clean grills, apparently ended up in barbecued beef or chicken that the patients ate, a new report said. From there, the bristles went to their throats and stomachs and caused serious medical issues.

Emergency physicians elsewhere said they'd never seen this happen. So might the nation's smallest state be the home to its biggest problem with renegade grill-cleaner bristles? Report lead author Dr. David Grand isn't so sure.

"Certainly, we all love to grill, though I can't say for certain that Rhode Islanders grill anymore than other Americans. More likely, once we became aware of this problem we began looking for it, and if we don't specifically look for this we will not find it," said Grand, a radiologist at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence.

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