A 37-year-old Canadian man who was struck by lightning while jogging and wearing his iPod suffered more severe injuries due to the metal electronic device, according to a report published Thursday. In 2005, the man was listening to his iPod and jogging in Burnaby, in British Columbia when lightning hit a nearby tree, then struck him, hurling him more than two meters (yards) into the air.
The man suffered ruptured eardrums, a fractured jaw, and burns that ran from his torso to his ears, right along the lines of where the headphone cords had been.
"Although the use of a device such as an iPod may not increase the chances of being struck by lightning, in this case, the combination of sweat and metal earphones, directed the current to, and through, the patient's head," said radiologist Eric J. Heffernan of Vancouver general hospital of the event.
"It's the first time we've had a recorded case of such an incident involving a person wearing headphones, and we think the public should be warned," said Heffernan according to excerpts of the New England Journal of Medicine article published in the daily Vancouver Sun.
"It's not just iPods that people have to be concerned about — anything similar that requires headphones or even cellphones being held to the ear could result in similar injuries."
Source: Agence France-Presse
