A follow-up study of a large group of children struck by lightning

Author

Cooper, M.A. ; Silva, L.M. ; Blumenthal, R. ; Pliskin, N.

Author_Institution

Univ. of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

fYear

2014

fDate

11-18 Oct. 2014

Firstpage

372

Lastpage

375

Abstract

On 11 November 1994, 26 preadolescent girls, 2 adult supervisors and seven dogs were sleeping in a tent in rural South Africa when it was hit by lightning. Four of the girls and four of the dogs were killed. What follows is a nineteen year follow-up study of the survivors. Of the 22 surviving young women, 11 responded. Clinical and psychological symptoms are reported in this paper which adds to the body of literature on the long-term after effects of lightning strike on survivors. A brief discussion on posttraumatic stress disorder symptomatology is provided.

Keywords

lightning; medical disorders; paediatrics; patient diagnosis; psychology; children follow-up study; clinical symptom; lightning survivor follow-up study; long-term lightning strike after effect; nineteen year follow-up study; posttraumatic stress disorder symptomatology; psychological symptom; Africa; Atmospheric measurements; Educational institutions; Electromagnetics; Particle measurements; Shoulder; Steel; burns; cataract; chronic pain; clinical symptom; eye injury; follow-up study; lightning burns; lightning injury; macula; posttraumatic stress disorder; psychological injury;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Lightning Protection (ICLP), 2014 International Conference o

Conference_Location

Shanghai

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICLP.2014.6973151

Filename

6973151