Conservation Corner: November 18, 2002

Hypothermia
by James L. Cummins

As I sit here in my office in mid-October writing this column, the temperature is 70F and the relative humidity is 75%, so it isn't real easy to get excited about frostbite! Maybe I should have taken a friend's advice and read Jack London's To Build a Fire, a most vivid description of freezing to death. However, we don't need to live in Minnesota to experience a health problem caused by cold weather conditions.

Below, William M. McKell, M.D., a resident of Gautier, Mississippi, and a physician at Singing River Hospital in Ocean Springs, provides some background and some tips on avoiding hypothermia.
According to Dr. McKell, on the ice or in a duck blind, the exposure to wind and/or moisture is synergistic with low ambient temperature in the induction of hypothermia. Remember your inability to even voice a call for help when, due to your total lack of athletic prowess, you slipped off that log and your chest waders filled with ice-cold water?

"The symptoms of hypothermia (defined as a body temperature of less than 95F) are nonspecific - altered mental status, slurred speech, impaired gait and unexplained lethargy are to name a few," states McKell. He also states that shivering might be a valuable clue, but hypothermic individuals whose body temperature is lower than 90F (most thermometers for human use don't register below 94F) may not shiver or even feel cold. The victim may appear corpse-like due to the pale color of the skin, lack of spontaneous motion and an imperceptible pulse.

People who appear lifeless after prolonged exposure to cold should not be considered dead until they have been evaluated by a physician or until their body temperature is near normal and they remain unresponsive and without perceptible pulse and respiration.
McKell gives the presently recommended approach in the field: 1) Wet clothing should be removed and further heat loss prevented by the use of blankets, hot water bottles, heated rocks wrapped in clothing or radiant heat from another person. 2) Motion of the victim must be limited and any movement performed gently; catastrophe has occurred immediately after exertion or even passive movement, probably as a result of cold, acidotic blood moving from the periphery to the core. 3) Chest compressions (CPR) should not be initiated in the field if there is any detectable movement, pulse (check neck or groin rather than wrist) or cardiac rhythm. 4) Hot drinks, especially brandy and other alcoholic beverages, have been used for centuries to treat people suffering from cold; they may magnify further heat loss by promoting inappropriate dilatation of the superficial blood vessels and therefore should be avoided.

"The goal should be to get the victim evaluated in a hospital as soon as possible, for the potential complications are many and some are potentially fatal. But most of all, wear warm clothing that is suitable for the occasion, stay dry from outside moisture and perspiration and have a safe outing in the outdoors," concluded McKell.


James L. Cummins is Executive Director of the Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation in Stoneville, Mississippi. Known as "Wildlife Mississippi," the Foundation is a non-profit, conservation organization founded to conserve, restore and enhance fish, wildlife and plant resources throughout Mississippi