Magnets are inherently attractive to young children, but present a risk when ingested. If consumed alone, small, smooth magnetic foreign bodies are likely to pass without significant event; however, ingestion of multiple magnets may have catastrophic consequences, including bowel perforation, obstruction, peritonitis, and death. Increasing reports of morbidity and mortality in recent years from the US National Electronic Injury Surveillance System has led to numerous safety statements from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as several product recalls from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. This article presents the background and mechanism of injury of magnet ingestion, as well as recommended management and potential complications. We also review current legislation and opportunities for further patient advocacy regarding this polarizing problem.

Objective To determine the impact of a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) enteroviral polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test performance on hospital length of stay (LOS) in a large multicenter cohort of infants undergoing evaluation for central nervous system infection. Study design We performed a planned secondary analysis of a retrospective cohort of hospitalized infants ≤60 days of age who had a CSF culture obtained at one of 18 participating centers (2005–2013). After adjustment for patient age and study year as well as clustering by hospital center, we compared LOS for infants who had an EV PCR test performed vs. not performed and among those tested, for infants with a positive vs negative test result. Results Of 19,953 hospitalized infants, 4,444 (22.3%) had an EV PCR test performed and 945 (21.3% of tested infants) had positive test results. Hospital LOS was similar for infants who had an EV PCR test performed compared with infants who did not (Incident rate ratio [IRR] 0.98 hours; 95% CI: 0.89–1.06 hours). However, EV PCR-positive infants had a 38% shorter LOS than EV PCR-negative infants (IRR 0.62 hours; 95% CI: 0.57–0.68). No infant with a positive EV PCR test had bacterial meningitis (0%; 95% CI: 0–0.4%). Conclusions While EV PCR testing was not associated with a reduction in LOS, infants with a positive EV PCR test had a one-third shorter LOS compared with infants with a negative EV PCR test. Focused EV PCR test use could increase the impact on LOS for infants undergoing CSF evaluation.