Health Highlights: April 4, 2018

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

‘Condom Snorting Challenge’ Another Dangerous Internet Fad: Doctors

Medical experts are sounding the alarm about a potentially life-threatening fad among teens — the condom snorting challenge.

Teens are posting internet videos of themselves inhaling a condom up a nostril until it re-emerges in the mouth. This dangerous stunt is a few years old but has recently taken hold again, CBS News reported.

Doctors and school officials are warning teens not to engage in this antic, which is a choking hazard.

“You are literally putting something down your nose, which connects to your mouth, which connects to your trachea,” Dr. Ammar Ali, an emergency room physician at Beaumont Health, told CBS News. “I mean, you are risking choking on it.”

There is also a risk of the condom getting stuck and of infection.

“The nasal passages and sinuses have special cells that can be damaged if objects such as condoms are placed in them, potentially leading to a bacterial or fungal infection,” Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City told CBS News.