As scorching, record-breaking heat is expected to affect southern China for a longer time, reports of heat strokes have been increasing in various cities, with at least one death reported by a hospital in Southwest China's Sichuan Province and two dozen patients hospitalized in southern cities.
Meteorological experts attributed the heat wave to worsening global warming and Typhoon Chaba, and they predicted that widespread hot weather will grip China for at least two more weeks.
The West China Hospital of Sichuan University in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, admitted three patients diagnosed with heat stroke on Sunday, with one man eventually dying of multiple organ failure, local media Red Star News reported on Tuesday.
Critical conditions including multiple organ failure and bleeding of the digestive tract and other parts of the body appeared just a few hours after the man suffered a heat stroke, according to Yu Haifang, deputy director of the emergency department of the hospital.
The patient was suffering from respiratory and cardiac arrest when he was transferred to the hospital and eventually died.
Two other patients are still being treated in the ICU. Since they are both suffering from obvious coagulation disorders and multiple organ failures, they are receiving continuous bedside blood purification, liver protection, anti-infection medication and other treatments.
The three patients are all men, and they are in their 20s, 40s and 60s. The two younger patients worked outdoors and the eldest suffered a heat stoke while cooking in a humid, hot kitchen.
People with heat stroke may experience loss of consciousness, convulsions and other symptoms. If the person is not treated promptly, their nervous system, respiratory system, liver and kidneys will be damaged, and multiple organ failures often lead to death.
Characteristics of a patient with heat stroke include a body temperature exceeding 40 C with no sweat. The patient is also unconscious.
In recent days, heat stroke cases have not only been reported in Sichuan, one of the warmest regions in China, but also in multiple southern Chinese cities. Several cities have set records for high temperatures and dozens of others have been baked in scorching temperatures.
