Shared Science - Wilderness & Environmental Medicine
WEM and The Journal of Special Operations Medicine (JSOM) participate in a shared science program. This opportunity is made possible through a reciprocal partnership between the journals. Click here to see the JSOM articles selected for WEM readers, please visit:
Fatal Events Related to Running Competitions in the Mountains
The few epidemiologic studies published previously about different forms of mountain running (ie, fell running, sky running, and ultratrail running) have not reported on fatal events. This report aims to contribute to the literature on mountain running fatalities, recording and classifying fatal events related to mountain running competitions found in online literature searches over a 12-y period.Common Bite—Bizarre Rash
A 21-year-old man with no significant medical history presented to a travel medicine clinic with an itchy rash. Both anterior thighs were itchy, red, warm, and swollen. There was a large bulla on the anterior aspect of the left thigh. He had been bitten by mosquitoes on both thighs less than 24 h previously. What is your diagnosis?Subungual Hematoma in the Mountains
Two physicians were camped at 3712 m on New Army Pass in the Sierra Nevada in 2015 when the neonatologist smashed his fourth right fingernail while moving a rock, developing an instantaneous subungual hematoma (Figure 1). Pain was surprisingly limited, so evacuation of the blood was delayed until the next morning. Although a wilderness text1 describes twirling a needle to drill a hole, a needle was not available, and the other method is more entertaining. An all-purpose wire paperclip was straightened, heated until red hot on a camp stove, and punched through the nail by the endocrinologist author.
