The Tribune (Dec. 22) ran an article from Reuters headlined “Sunburn may mean body is on the defensive.”
I have run the only sunburn meter in Illinois since 1983 and helped develop our new national ultraviolet index, and I report daily to Tom Skilling on WGN-TV.
A very serious misunderstanding of a quote in the story from the scientific journal Nature could cause serious, undue harm to patients. “It seems that sunburn . . . may actually be protective” would clearly be understood by the scientific audience reading it-as somewhat protective only after severe damage that should have been avoided in the first place.
This would be similar to using a fire extinguisher on a partially fire-damanaged kitchen. Fever, with infection, also is partially protective, but avoiding infection would clearly be preferable.
Please don’t let patients think that sunburn could be protective; this is clearly not the case.
