Heat death

The heat death is the death of a living being as a result of overheating of the body's interior. Death can occur in different ways. Heat death is the most serious consequence of heat damage .

Heat death in humans

High air temperatures , especially when there is high humidity , can affect the body temperature of a person in such a way that the body functions are impaired. There may be various types of heat damage . In the ICD-10 , the diagnosis of heat damage is coded with ICD T67.0 (see below). If left untreated, it can lead to death. Heat cramps (the body heats up and sweats as a result of heavy physical work and loses a lot of body fluid in a short time), heat exhaustion (circulatory failure) or heat stroke (sudden large influx of heat caused by the heat regulationof the body cannot be balanced) are other consequences. Especially the elderly aged 65 and over are affected by this because they while slightly while still from chronic and acute dehydration suffer.

In a meta-study on conditions of increased mortality from heat, daily average temperatures of 20 degrees Celsius with extreme humidity and 30 degrees with 20% humidity were identified as threatening. Around 30% of the world's population are currently exposed to such climatic conditions for at least 20 days a year. In the year 2100 this share is estimated at around 48%, if a drastic reduction of greenhouse gas emissions succeeds, otherwise around 74% of the world population will be affected. In the vicinity of the equator, these heat conditions would then last almost all year round, making these regions practically uninhabitable (i.e. without complex cooling technology ). People who are unable to finance this effort will have to emigrate .

But fires can also result in death by heat. This can lead to tissue destruction ( protein , the main component of cells, overcooked). Or as an indirect consequence, when proteins denature , i.e. change their spatial structure, and cells lose their biological function. This occurs faster after a longer period of time and body core temperatures above 42 degrees or higher body core temperatures.

Danger to life for children in overheated cars If a toddler is left in the car, he or she can die of heat after just a few minutes. On hot summer days, children in a parked car can overheat very quickly, even with the side windows open, as the temperature in the car will soon be much higher than the outside temperature. This leads to repeated deaths: In the USA, for example, an average of almost 40 children die each year from overheating in cars. In 2018 there were 53 children. A draft law (“Hot Cars Act”, 2019) is under discussion that would make an automatic acoustic warning mandatory for newly registered cars. Children's and animal welfare lobbies jointly campaign for a warning to any passenger remaining in the back seat.

Heat death in animals

Animals can also suffer from overheating, which can lead to heat death. The reason for overheating in pets can be that they are kept in cages or aquariums that are in the sun and do not offer the animals a place of refuge from direct sunlight. Even with farm animals such as cows, it can be used to heat death come when they are in bright sunlight on a pasture on which they find no protection from the sun.

Heat death in plants

Temperatures> 30 ° C cause tissue damage in plants, regardless of the dryness associated with hot climatic periods. Leaf necrosis occurs and young or damaged plants can die. There is a threat of crop failures.

"Heat death" in electrical devices

One speaks of the heat death of electrical devices in the figurative sense, if the device - z. B. a PC - is overheated by heat build-up inside the housing (for example on hot summer days), switches itself off, and in the worst case even electronic components are damaged. This can i. d. As a rule, prevent this by operating the device in a shady place and preventing dust from entering the device so as not to hinder the cooling of the ventilation or by suitable "active" cooling measures such as installing fans . In addition, some components, such as CPUs and GPUs, have mechanisms that prevent overheating; these include throttling and automatic shutdown.

See also

• Burn - First Aid

literature

• Lothar Baumann: Die Hitzetoten of 2003. In: Statistical monthly issue 04/2005 , Statistisches Landesamt Baden-Württemberg. Pp. 23-27.
• Birgit Lukas, Martin Welp: Dealing with extreme weather events in the print media - using the example of the 2003 heat wave - climate change as an inevitable catastrophe or a manageable task? Study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. 2004. Download the 200 KB PDF file from the Potsdam Climate Institute . 2004. approx. 45 pp.

Web links

Wikibooks: First aid for sunstroke / heat stroke  - learning and teaching materials

Wiktionary: Hitzetod  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

• Heat death in forensic medicine at the University of Leipzig ( Memento from May 16, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
• Current heat warnings from the German Weather Service for individual districts in Germany

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Camilo Mora, Bénédicte Dousset, Iain R. Caldwell, Farrah E. Powell, Rollan C. Geronimo, Coral R. Bielecki, Chelsie WW Counsell, Bonnie S. Dietrich, Emily T. Johnston, Leo V. Louis, Matthew P. Lucas , Marie M. McKenzie, Alessandra G. Shea, Han Tseng, Thomas W. Giambelluca, Lisa R. Leon, Ed Hawkins & Clay Trauernicht: Global risk of deadly heat . In: Nature Climate Change . 7, pp. 501–506 and Fig. 1b, 2017.
2. ↑ The heat in the car can be lethal. Doctors newspaper, July 4, 2010, accessed July 4, 2015 . 
3. ↑ Sarah V Duzinski, Amanda N Barczyk, TAREKA C. Wheeler, Sujit S Iyer, Karla A. Lawson: Threat of pediatric hyperthermia in vehicle on enclosed: a year-round study . In: Injury Prevention . tape 20 , no. 4 , 2014, p. 220–225 , doi : 10.1136 / injuryprev-2013-040910 (English, bmj.com ).
4. ↑ ^{a b} Ben Foldy: Deaths of Children in Hot Cars Spur Push for New Safety Measures. In: The Wall Street Journal. August 6, 2019, accessed on August 10, 2019 . 
5. ↑ Heatstroke. In: www.kidsandcars.org. Retrieved August 10, 2019 . 
6. ^ Matthew Vann: Bill would require warning for children left in hot cars as number of deaths rises. In: abcnews.go.com. July 1, 2019, accessed August 10, 2019 . 
7. ↑ Ellen Byron: Child Advocates Team Up with PETA on Hot-Car Deaths. In: The Wall Street Journal. August 7, 2019, accessed on August 10, 2019 . 
8. ↑ Horst Gömann, Andrea Bender, et al .: Agricultural-relevant extreme weather conditions and possibilities of risk management systems. Thünen Report 30, Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute, Braunschweig 2015. ISBN 978-3-86576-136-1 DOI: 10.3220 / REP1434012425000 (PDF) p.117-9

This article is about a health issue. It is not used for self-diagnosis and does not replace a diagnosis by a doctor. Please note the information on health issues !