Science & Outdoors
Health Point: Dry drowning
The Pointer
kbose675@uwsp.edu
A 10-year-old boy from South Carolina was enjoying a nice day of swimming in the summer of 2008, just as many people do during the warm summer months. However, the night after he went swimming, his parents found him dead in his bed.
Medical records show that the boy had suffered from pulmonary edema, but most believed it was dry drowning, a medical phenomenon few people had heard of prior to this incident.
The fear of dry drowning spread rapidly through the country and many people are still confused about what dry drowning actually is.
“Dry drowning occurs when a noxious or extremely cold stimulant, such as water, comes in contact with the vocal chords, causing them to automatically close,” Dr. Robert Wiprud, associate professor at the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, said in a news release. “When they close, you can’t breathe. The harder you try to breathe, the worse the situation can become because the entire airway can collapse.”
When water is taken into the lungs, there is a natural mechanism for the larynx to spasm to stop more water from entering the lungs. Dry drowning can occur when a person is not in any sort of liquid. The spasm of the larynx can cause asphyxiation (choking) and pulmonary edema (respiratory failure), such as the case of the 10-year-old boy.
The statistics vary, but somewhere from 15 to 20 percent of drowning victims suffer from dry drowning. Though dry drowning is rare, there are signs to watch for.
“Look for shortness of breath, unexplained fatigue and sleepiness and mental status changes,” said Dr. Wiprud.
According to WebMd.com, children and adults with underlying lung problems, such as asthma, are at a higher risk for drowning. If caught early enough, dry drowning can be treated by supplying oxygen to the lungs and restarting the breathing process.
Dr. Wiprud also warns against overreacting about dry drowning. Millions of people who go swimming every summer are completely safe and are never victims of dry drowning.
