Never Heard Of 'Dry Drowning?' What You Need To Know About The Deadly Condition

The Question: Dry drowning was recently ruled as the suspected cause of death for a 4-year-old boy from Texas. What is this medical condition and what are the signs that someone might be suffering from it? The Answer: We don’t yet know what happened in the tragic case of the child in Texas, but drowning is an issue of heightened concern in the summer.  About 3,500 people die per year in the U.S. due to unintentional drowning. One in five of those deaths is a child under the age of 14. And there’s a large disparity by race: African-American children between the ages of 5-19 are 5.5 times as likely to drown in swimming pools than their white peers. But to understand any of the terminology about drowning ― and it is confusing ― it’s important to understand what happens when someone drowns.  “Wet drowning,” which is drowning while submerged under water, is what most people think of when they hear the word “drowning.” This refers to when a spasm in the larynx ― a muscular organ in the throat  ― occurs and relaxes the opening to the throat’s airway, allowing water to enter the lungs.  In the event of dry drowning, on the other hand, a laryngeal spasm also occurs, but the muscle at the top of the airway doesn’t completely relax, and so less water enters the lungs, according to Dr. Wassam Rahman, medical director of the emergency center at Johns Hopkin’s All Children’s Hospital.&nb...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news