A Phoenix man was near death when authorities found him in the scorching Phoenix, Arizona, sun on Wednesday, with one firefighter referring to the individual's brain as "fried."
Escalating heat waves nationwide are a cause for concern as people should follow the basics to prevent serious harm or injuries, multiple health experts told Newsweek. Heat waves are characterized as periods of abnormally hot weather usually affecting a high number of people for longer than two days, with or without high humidity.
That unidentified man was sprawled in the street and lying next to drug paraphernalia when discovered by emergency responders, according to The Washington Post. Witnesses reportedly observed odd behavior from the man, including him slamming his head into the side of a truck before ultimately falling unconscious.
He reportedly had such severe burns that his skin was falling off his body. He was taken to the emergency room while he had an internal temperature of 107 degrees.
On Thursday, the National Weather Service (NWS) said some 113 million Americans were in the throes of heat-related alerts.
Texas is in its third week of record-setting extreme temperatures, while the NWS reported in late June that an additional seven states— Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, parts of New Mexico and Arizona—were also at risk.
California, Arizona, Nevada and Texas are facing the greatest challenges, the NWS said, with residents expected to see an "oppressive" hot front predicted to spread across California and the Pacific Northwest on Friday.
Methods of Heat Stroke Prevention
Experts suggest that people use common sense as part of prevention against the perils of high temperatures, including drinking plenty of fluids like water, electrolyte solutions and sports drinks while avoiding alcohol and caffeine; wearing sunscreen and hats; and wearing appropriate clothing and lighter materials like cotton while abstaining from dark-colored attire due to trapping heat.
Those who work outside should consume more ounces of fluid on average, while children should try to avoid wide-open areas containing playscapes or otherwise wear shoes to avoid burns from hot asphalt.
Seniors and children are especially vulnerable to such conditions.
"It's been very hot, not one of the hottest but certainly concerning considering the fact that the weather here has been quite mild over the past months," Joel Levis, chief of emergency medicine at Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara, California, told Newsweek via phone. "So, I think any type of extreme heat that is going to occur might catch people off guard."
Heat Exhaustion and Psychological Effects
John Tully, medical director of emergency departments at Baptist Health System in San Antonio, Texas, told Newsweek via phone that his health system has had quite its share of visitors due to heat exhaustion and other more serious effects of triple-digit weather in the region.
Heat exhaustion is where the body goes beyond dehydration, he said, and includes profuse sweating, headaches, elevated temperatures and heart rates—which can lead to nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, body weakness and dizziness.
"That can progress to heatstroke, where you have a loss of consciousness similar to a stroke with slurred speech, confusion, agitation, hallucinations, and just general altered mental status," Tully said. "That's usually when the core temperature gets above around 106 degrees Fahrenheit. Patients can have muscle twitching, seizures and that becomes a life-threatening emergency."
Daniel Jackson Smith, an assistant professor at Villanova University and a nurse practitioner, told Newsweek via phone that heart spikes and feelings of nausea unaccompanied by vomiting should be acknowledged and lead to 10-15 minutes of rest to assess the situation.
If the feelings don't subside, that is when medical attention should be sought.
"But we would like that there would be preventative measures taken beforehand to prevent people from getting to that point," Smith said. "We want people to recognize when it is too hard to be spending large amounts of time outside whenever we are having these heat waves. They should be spending more time in the air conditioning, if they have it."
Ralph Riviello, professor and chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, told Newsweek via phone that heat can cause the heart to work harder and faster, leading to other unwanted effects on other parts of the body—including the brain.
"The brain can take a lot of injury from the heat so proteins don't work properly, proteins may start to break down, causing some of the problems," Riviello said. "Dehydration leads to low blood pressure and less blood flow to the brain. The brain is very sensitive to blood flow and oxygen flow."
Other outcomes of poor chemical reactions can also occur, he said, leading to metabolic problems within the brain.
"The brain's function becomes totally disarrayed and you have things like confusion, coma stupor, seizure activity, and even intracranial bleeding," he said.
Treating Burns
Tully said that burns should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
Severe burns covering a large portion of the body, for example, run the risk of infection and should be observed by a medical practitioner. These include burns with multiple blisters, or children who get burned and may act "differently or less responsive," which may require an emergency room visit.
Levis said at-home remedies like aloe vera lotion and cold compresses, along with over-the-counter medications like ibuprofen or acetaminophen, can help with pain. He said severe burns leading to ER visits are "rare."
Climate Change and Disaster Events
Some heat records were set in June, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), as extreme weather plus poor air quality led to bad outcomes.
As of July 11 of this year, there have been 12 confirmed weather/climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each, including one flood, 10 severe storms and one winter storm, resulting in the deaths of 100 people and significant economic impacts.
The numbers are drastically higher compared to past events, which occurred on average 8.1 times annually between 1980 and 2022. The annual average the past five years is 18 events.
Neelu Tummala, a physician at the George Washington University School of Medicine and co-director of the university's Climate Health Institute, said global warming is a large factor in these weather events—which will increase heat-related illnesses as time goes on.
"We're talking about a lot of adaptation strategies to avoid and so it is another reason to really act on climate change because we also don't want to be afraid to go outdoors," Tummala told Newsweek via phone. "Being outdoors is in general great for physical health, right for mental health. It allows kids to run around a playground, but we're having children indoors all day because it's too hot to go outside.
"It's really concerning, from a mental health and physical health perspective...We really have to think about the big picture. What does the future hold for heat extremes and how can we mitigate future heat extremes by addressing continued warming?"
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Nick Mordowanec is a Newsweek reporter based in Michigan. His focus is reporting on Ukraine and Russia, along with social ... Read more
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