Dispensary Corner

FANCY a cup of tea? Possibly not while staying in a hotel room, if a warning issued via Twitter is any indication.

US technology website Gizmodo has highlighted the issue of people apparently using in-room kettles to boil their underwear.

The site spotted a tweet asking “Real question: does anyone I know clean their underwear in a kettle while travelling?” - and apparently similar mentions of unmentionables have been spotted on Chinese social media site Weibo.

Gizmodo cited Dr Heather Hendrickson, a senior lecturer in molecular biosciences at Auckland’s Massey University, as saying the practice is “super, super, super, super gross”.

She said there are some bacteria resistant to high temperatures that could be damaging to people’s health if they come in contact with them.

“Who knows how long that water, with nutrients that have been introduced and then sterilised, sits around in the kettle before someone else uses it,” Hendrickson asked.

LAST week’s solar eclipse in the USA came with plenty of warnings not to look directly at the sun.

While there doesn’t seem to have been a spike in scorched eyeballs, there have been quite a number of patients presenting at emergency rooms after putting sunblock in their eyes.

A nurse practitioner in Wisconsin was quoted by Channel 3000 TV confirming some clients “that put sunscreen on their eyeball...they were referred to an ophthalmologist,” she said.