It happened one recent Saturday morning to Eric Berman, head of research for the Democratic National Committee. He tried to hide his wound, wrapping it in a red kitchen towel. But when his face turned ashen, his mother-in-law shoved him into a cab and took him to George Washington University Medical Center.

"When I pulled off the towel, the doctor said, `Oh, a bagel injury.' He knew immediately," Berman said of the cut he suffered while slicing his breakfast. How could the doctor conclude that about a patient he'd never seen before?

An epidemiologist tracing the surge in bagel accidents no doubt could find its roots in an explosion of bagel consumption and franchises, with national sales approaching $1 billion a year. In the Washington area, for example, Chesapeake Bagel Bakery started with one store on Capitol Hill in 1981 and now has 35 in the Washington area, 60 nationwide and 361 more in development.