Lightning strikes, rat bites, falling off toilet-how Brits got injured in 2010!

LONDON: Rat bites, lighting strikes, falling off toilets-are some of the top reason why Brits had to run to the hospital in 2010, reveals new data.

Yearly hospital admissions data has revealed a number of unusual reasons for trips to the emergency room.

According to the NHS figures, seventy-five people needed treatment for lightning strikes.

There were 460 admissions nationally for injuries from a powered lawn mower, 1,120 from wasp, bee or hornet incidents, 30 due to 'cataclysmic storms' and 24 for rat bites.

The figures come from the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) inpatient data for the financial year ending April 2010.

There were 3,680 injured riders or passengers on animal-drawn vehicles and 6,419 people who fell on or off a ladder.

As many as 1,419 patients fell out of trees and 310 injuries from contact with plant thorns, spines and sharp leaves.

And 2,079 admissions got injured while being carried or supported by other persons (including being dropped) and 46,463 were due to a fall on the same level (including falling from or off a toilet).

"The databases show the wide variety of different accidents people have had," the Daily Mail quoted a spokesman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, as saying.

"Some of them sound fairly light-hearted but these are accidents that result in people having to be admitted to hospital.

"The good news is that most accidents are preventable. A bit of forward planning and thinking about any possible risks can help," said the spokesman.