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Durban, South Africa (pte060/23.06.2005/18:04) - The youngest person to ever publish an article in the prestigious South African Medical Journal http://www.ajol.info/journal_index.php?jid=76&tran=0&ab=samjis is only 12 years old, and is just finishing primary school.
Since her article about 'Playstation thumb' appeared in the journal, Safura Abdool Karim has been inundated with calls from local and international media.
Karim, whose parents are both doctors and respected HIV/AIDS researchers, wrote her article about the form of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) after reading an article in the British medical journal Lancet about a girl who suffered symptoms of 'Playstation thumb', an increasing phenomenon among children who excessively use the controls on the popular Sony game console.
The symptoms are pain in the thumbs and blisters on the thumbs' tips; pain, stiffness, swelling, numbness and tingling of the hands, wrists, elbows, shoulders, back or neck.
"Those who played more Playstation had more symptoms, especially if they played for more than three hours per day," Karim wrote.
"My results show that more boys played Playstation games regularly. However, the boys had fewer symptoms of Playstation thumb. No one had serious problems or symptoms.
"Today computers and computer games are creating new medical problems, such as Playstation thumb, which are becoming common in children, " Karim concluded.
As for her future studies, Karim, a South African Indian, said she may consider paediatrics, with a specialty in HIV/AIDS among children.
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