Electric shock

In 1879, for the first time, an electric shock was recorded. After this incident, the number of victims is gradually increasing, and to date, from the current suffers five percent of all arriving at burn units.

It should be noted that urban residents are less likely to suffer from this kind of defeat than rural ones.

Often, electric shock is a professional injury or a negligent attitude to the equipment.

Pathogenesis of trauma.

A big misconception is the view that an electric shock can only be caused by touching an electrical circuit. There are enough known cases of electric shock during its leakage through an interrupted circuit. In this case, it is not necessary to touch the wires, it's enough to just be close. That's why near electric lines and towers is not recommended to stand, walk and carry out any action.

Of great importance is the point of entry and exit of current on the human body. So, for example, a small amount of current is enough to get into the chest area, as a heart rhythm failure and even a cardiac arrest can occur.

In general, electric shock causes minimal damage to the body if the entry and exit points are below the waist - in such a situation, the heart, brain, and other important organs are not affected.

The most dangerous for a person is a current of a variable nature. The thing is that the victim in such a situation can not independently get rid of the wave, because the current causes erratic muscle contractions. The situation is aggravated by the fact that during such cuts a person begins to sweat intensely, and, consequently, the conductivity of the skin improves. Often, victims of alternating current receive extensive burns and incompatible with life damage to internal organs.

It is important that the electric shock of a small force can almost immediately cause fibrillation of the ventricles and atria, and then stop the heart. When a person is exposed to a high-voltage current, death in most cases can occur as a result of any complications, including fibrillation.

The high voltage current causes extensive skin burns, and surrounding tissues. It was found out that during the passage of current through the human body, it is capable of producing temperatures up to 10,000 degrees, which causes ignition of clothing. That's why doctors can observe burns directly electrical, along with thermal (from the flame of fire).

Clinical picture of electrical burns.

If an electric shock causes the death of a person, then on the examination he finds a lot of small hemorrhages on the skin, mucous membranes, internal organs.

If the person managed to survive, then after some time he can detect necrosis of tissues, blood vessels. Immediately after the injury, patients are in a state of shock, most often do not understand what happened to them. There may be a collapse and a stop of breathing. This moment is considered critical, since it determines the survival rate of the victims.

Immediately after the coma, an aggressive period begins. Patients are nervous, they have strong chaotic muscle twitchings, which sometimes lead to fractures and dislocations of the limbs.

If the patient has suffered from a peptic ulcer before that, then there is a big threat of extensive bleeding from the crater (bottom) of the ulcer. Also severe consequences are edema of the brain and lungs, which require intensive therapy.

The long-term consequences of electric trauma include psychological and neurological disorders of the normal human condition.