Parents beware, the hickey or love bite is taking on a whole new meaning. The influx of vampire movies and TV series appears to have presented teenagers with a new idea for a fad. US teens are getting their fix by biting one another hard enough to draw blood in order to drink it. Perhaps they don't know that a human mouth has a total of 101 known types of bacteria, worse than any cat or dog. As if this isn't bad enough, can anyone say hepatitis or HIV?
Teenagers are known for crazy fads
You have to give teenagers credit, they are certainly creative. One tiny inkling, just a blip in the teenage mind, and a fad launches that sweeps across the US in hours. Aided by social-networking and video-uploading sites, ideas go viral in minutes. Take the Soulja Boy dance for example, which thankfully is harmless. It spurred hundreds of teens to offer their own versions of the dance, courtesy of YouTube.
Other fads unfortunately are somewhat less endearing and boast potentially serious health consequences – sack-tapping for example. In a testament of strength, boys have to withstand being flicked, hit or punched in the groin. While typical of the teenage boy mentality; no thought was given to adverse effects. When one 14-year-old boy ended up having to endure a testicle amputation, the insidious nature of the game soon emerged in the media.
