Outdoor Fun Related Articles & Blog Posts

Each year over 6 million cases of swimmer’s ear will cause kids (and adults) painful infections in the ear canal – interrupting many vacations and days of summer fun. People deserve speedy, safe, effective treatment to relieve the pain and get them back in the water. In April 2006, the American Academy of Otolaryngology came [...]

One month after eating an earthworm on a dare, a 16-year-old girl developed a fever and nausea that lasted about 2 or 3 days, along with some mild swelling around her eyes. These symptoms went away, but over the next two weeks she also had a worsening cough and lost 5 pounds. The diagnosis?

Organic, all natural, bug repellant? Oil of lemon eucalyptus, a natural, plant-based repellant is one of the repellant options newly recommended in 2005 by the CDC for mosquito protection in the United States, based on solid scientific evidence. Oil of lemon eucalyptus has been used elsewhere in the world for years, and is about as [...]

Men and women born in 1970 – now in their mid-30s – already are being diagnosed with malignant melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. Shockingly, these young adults are being diagnosed with melanoma at the same rate as the elderly who were born in 1930 and who didn’t start developing melanoma until their 50s, [...]

The first person in history known to have survived rabies without getting the rabies vaccine went home from the hospital on New Year’s Day 2005. The story began when a 15-year-old Wisconsin girl named Jeanna Giese was attending a church service on September 12. A bat flew into the building and fell to the floor. [...]

There is a simple way to protect your children from the arsenic commonly found in playgrounds… Wait a minute! There’s arsenic in playgrounds?!? The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has banned wood treated with chromated copper arsenic (CCA) from being installed in playgrounds and homes. This ban took effect on January 1, 2004, but [...]

How and when sun damage occurs to children’s skin may surprise you. Many parents know that in the United States alone more than 1 million skin cancers are diagnosed in adults each year, resulting from damage to the skin during childhood. Many of these cancers are deadly melanomas. Over the last thirty years, the frequency [...]

Because West Nile virus has made preventing mosquito bites more important in the United States, and because some insecticides are toxic, people have become increasingly concerned with finding gentle and effective solutions at preventing mosquito bites. DEET is the most effective ingredient at preventing mosquito bites. It does not kill mosquitoes, but repels them, discouraging [...]

The recommendations for kids’ using insect repellants containing DEET have changed, allowing higher concentrations than before. Within the last year, the Committee on Environmental Health of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) concluded that products containing DEET at a concentration of 30% are as safe as products containing only 10% when used as directed. The [...]

Along with nice weather, West Nile virus is arriving for the summer. On June 8, the first 2004 case of West Nile virus in California was reported. Other cases had already been found in people in Arizona and New Mexico, and in flocks of birds from New York to Florida to California. Last year, almost [...]