Eight children suffered drowning or near-drowning in Sydney pools over an 11-day period in January 2007. Four received basic life support (BLS) within 5 minutes of immersion and survived with good functional neurological outcomes. The other four were not discovered for ≥ 5 minutes and all died. This cluster serves as a reminder that timely effective bystander BLS is crucial to survival and good clinical outcomes in near-drowning episodes.
During an 11-day period in January 2007, eight children presented to several emergency departments in the Sydney metropolitan region after a drowning or near-drowning event. While these incidents are known to be more common in summer, it is relatively uncommon to have such a cluster of cases occurring within a short period of time.
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