general anesthesia
今日は節分です。みなさんは豆まきをするのでしょうか。
Agency issues warning over children swallowing Setsubun beans
Ahead of Setsubun on Wednesday, the day to celebrate the beginning of spring, the Consumer Affairs Agency has warned parents to guard against small children accidentally swallowing soybeans.
People customarily throw and eat roasted soybeans on Setsubun to drive away evil spirits and invite good fortune.
However, the agency said over the past five years more than 20 cases of complications from children swallowing the beans were reported by medical institutions nationwide.
Agency officials said children aged under 3 should avoid putting the dry soybeans in their mouth, as their swallowing skills are underdeveloped and small foods such as beans and nuts can get into their respiratory tracts, possibly choking them.
The agency said among the reported cases, a 1-year-old child accidentally swallowed a bean and had to be put under general anesthesia to remove it from a bronchus.
In another case, a fragment of a peanut was found in the bronchus of a 2-year-old child who was hospitalized with symptoms of pneumonia.
ここで取り上げるのは“general anesthesia”です。“anesthesia”は「麻酔」（『ジーニアス英和辞典第四版』大修館書店）、“the use of anaesthetics in medicine, the state of being unable to feel pain”（LDOCE）という意味を持ち、“general”がつくことで「全身麻酔」（『G4』）という意味になります。
消費者庁は、3歳ごろまでは豆やナッツ類を子どもに食べさせないように注意を呼び掛けています。というのも、豆を誤嚥してしまい、気管支から除去したという事例があるように、豆やナッツ類は子どもにとってかみ砕くのが難しいとのことです。年齢と同じ数の豆を食べることが習慣となっている方も多いかもしれませんが、子どもたちが豆を食べる時は気を付けていかなければいけません。
