Man admitted to cold ward with 107 deg F fever, dies

Nagpur: In what could be the first such case recorded by Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) in at least three years, a destitute man was admitted into a hospital cold ward with a body temperature of 107 degrees Fahrenheit — shooting past 105 degrees, seen as the medical threshold for heatstroke. The patient, who died after four hours of hospitalisation last Friday, could be the first official heatwave death in the city this season, said top sources.The NMC health department classified it as a case of hyperpyrexia, which typically happens due to heatstroke, although a final declaration will be given by the death committee headed by the civil surgeon.In case of fever, a temperature of 107 degrees Fahrenheit is the point of critical cellular failure. The body's cooling mechanism is hampered as the sweat glands are hit. Dehydration dries up the body, even stopping the sweating process, said a doctor involved with the case. This ultimately leads to the body temperature matching the ambient temperature leading to organ failure and death, he said.NMC has opened 11 cold wards throughout the city, including in the two govt medical colleges. The deceased was the only patient to be admitted in the cold ward, where doctors attempt to physically bring down the temperature as medicines don't work.In this case, the destitute had the symptoms of heatstroke. The Union ministry of health has issued guidelines for attributing heatstroke to death. It says the diagnosis may be established from circumstances surrounding the casualty. If a clinical diagnosis is available before death, cases where body temperature is equal or more than 105 degrees can be declared as heatstroke death, say the guidelines.The health ministry guidelines say if the investigation finds compelling evidence of continuous exposure to a hot environment and fails to identify an independent cause of death, it can be classified as death due to heatstroke. Autopsy should be based on circumstances of the death, say the guidelines.