A young boy has died after swallowing a button battery while on holiday with his family.
The seven-year-old, who lived in Payerne, Switzerland, and named in reports as Jose, was on a break in Portugal when he ingested the battery.
The victim was taken to hospital in the city of Coimbra and the battery was removed but he later died of vasculitus, an inflammation of the blood vessels.
According to reports he swallowed the battery around Christmas time and died on January 14.
He was buried at a cemetery in Zambujal in Portugal on January 17 with his devastated parents and sister in attendance.
Officials in Switzerland report that in most button battery ingestion cases, the objects pass through the body and are eliminated in the stool 24 to 96 hours later.
Eighty to 95 per cent of those affected show no symptoms. However, in rare cases, there can be severe or fatal consequences.
Complications include damage to the oesophageal mucosa or even perforation of the oesophagus.
Symptoms include difficulty swallowing, vomiting, hypersalivation, suffocation, coughing or even respiratory distress.
Jose's school has offered counselling to any students distressed by their friend's sudden death.
In May 2021 two-year-old Harper-Lee Farnthorpe died at the Royal Stoke University Hospital in Stoke-on-Trent within hours of swallowing a button battery.
Devastated mum Stacey Nicklin, from Abbey Hulton, discovered a remote control with a missing button battery in her daughter's bedroom following the tragedy.
An inquest ruled that Harper-Lee's death was accidental.
Steps to take to keep your child safe:
- Store spare batteries securely, out of reach
- Know which toys or gadgets use button batteries, check your home
- Get rid of ‘dead’ button batteries immediately – they still have enough power to harm children
- Teach older children the dangers – why they shouldn’t play with them or give them to younger children
- Place strong tape over the battery compartment on remote controls
