“The toddler pulled down the coffee kettle
from the stove and was scalded”. This very
common emergency room presenting complaint
repeats itself as surely as the coffee break.
While there are minor variations on this theme,
the resulting burns cause considerable morbidity
in children.1 In a study of children under age
7 in Trondheim, Norway, burns were second
only to fractures in requiring hospital care.2
Scalds and contact burns are the two most
common mechanisms in developed countries3–5
with coffee and tea being the most frequent
products involved.3 5 6 In developing countries,
cooking fires are the more common source of