Tide Pods are so January.
Now teens are taking on an even grosser challenge in pursuit of Internet fame — and this one is making stomachs turn, as it is as disgusting as it is dangerous.
The latest challenge involves snorting a condom up one nostril, inhaling, and finally pulling it from the throat out the mouth.
Like other viral fads, this one has been around for years but is just now catching fire on social media, mostly via YouTube.
Health authorities warn that the new "game" poses a real risk and can kill.
Anything that goes up one’s nose “can damage the sensitive inner lining of your nose, cause an allergic reaction, or result in an infection,” wrote Bruce Y. Lee, associate professor of international health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in a column for Forbes.
“The condom could easily get stuck in your nose or your throat, blocking your breathing or causing you to choke,” he added.
Forbes cites two cases reviewed in medical journals in which women accidentally swallowed condoms, developing ailments ranging from pneumonia to appendicitis.
“Even if you manage to successfully pull the condom out through your mouth, inhaling a condom up your nose would be very uncomfortable and potentially quite painful,” Lee wrote. “Would it really be worth all that just to get more likes and views?”
The condom snorting fad follows a recent trend of people eating Tide Pods and encouraging or daring others to do the same. That stunt, dubbed "The Tide Pod Challenge," resulted in poison centers reporting 142 incidents just in January, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC).
Now teens are taking on an even grosser challenge in pursuit of Internet fame — and this one is making stomachs turn, as it is as disgusting as it is dangerous.
The latest challenge involves snorting a condom up one nostril, inhaling, and finally pulling it from the throat out the mouth.
Like other viral fads, this one has been around for years but is just now catching fire on social media, mostly via YouTube.
Health authorities warn that the new "game" poses a real risk and can kill.
Anything that goes up one’s nose “can damage the sensitive inner lining of your nose, cause an allergic reaction, or result in an infection,” wrote Bruce Y. Lee, associate professor of international health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in a column for Forbes.
“The condom could easily get stuck in your nose or your throat, blocking your breathing or causing you to choke,” he added.
Forbes cites two cases reviewed in medical journals in which women accidentally swallowed condoms, developing ailments ranging from pneumonia to appendicitis.
“Even if you manage to successfully pull the condom out through your mouth, inhaling a condom up your nose would be very uncomfortable and potentially quite painful,” Lee wrote. “Would it really be worth all that just to get more likes and views?”
The condom snorting fad follows a recent trend of people eating Tide Pods and encouraging or daring others to do the same. That stunt, dubbed "The Tide Pod Challenge," resulted in poison centers reporting 142 incidents just in January, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC).
