Homegrown coral reefs are beautiful — and potentially dangerous
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In May, members of a family living in a suburb of Adelaide, Australia, scrubbed the coral tank in their home and went to bed. A few hours later they awoke, struggling for air. The family was “quite unwell with breathing difficulties,” said Daniel Hamilton, a spokesman for the South Australian Country Fire Service. All of seven members of the household were hospitalized, the youngest child in the intensive care unit.
Within an hour, Hamilton said, emergency responders traced the incident to the scrubbed coral. The animal reacted to the cleaner as though it were a predator, spewing a chemical that spread through the house as an aerosol.
Officials on the scene quarantined the building. “This isn’t the sort of thing we’ve dealt with before,” Hamilton said. It took three hazmat removal groups wearing breathing apparatuses and suits to clean up the mess, Australian newspaper ABC reported. They neutralized the toxin with bleach and vacuumed up the particles.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...omepage/story&utm_term=.8a19870e6c80#comments
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In May, members of a family living in a suburb of Adelaide, Australia, scrubbed the coral tank in their home and went to bed. A few hours later they awoke, struggling for air. The family was “quite unwell with breathing difficulties,” said Daniel Hamilton, a spokesman for the South Australian Country Fire Service. All of seven members of the household were hospitalized, the youngest child in the intensive care unit.
Within an hour, Hamilton said, emergency responders traced the incident to the scrubbed coral. The animal reacted to the cleaner as though it were a predator, spewing a chemical that spread through the house as an aerosol.
Officials on the scene quarantined the building. “This isn’t the sort of thing we’ve dealt with before,” Hamilton said. It took three hazmat removal groups wearing breathing apparatuses and suits to clean up the mess, Australian newspaper ABC reported. They neutralized the toxin with bleach and vacuumed up the particles.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...omepage/story&utm_term=.8a19870e6c80#comments
