In 1879, an electric shock was first recorded. After this incident, the number of victims gradually increases, and today, five percent of all those entering the burn departments suffer from current.
It should be noted that urban residents are less likely to suffer from this kind of defeat than rural ones.
Often an electric shock is a professional injury or neglect of equipment.
Pathogenesis of injury.
A big misconception is that people can be shocked only by touching an electric 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 is enough just to be near. That is why it is not recommended to stand, walk and carry out any actions near electric lines and towers.
Of great importance is the point of entry and exit of current on the human body. So, for example, a small enough current to get into the chest area, as a heart rhythm failure and even heart failure can occur.
In general, electric shock causes minimal damage to the body, if the entry and exit points are below the waist - in this situation the heart, brain, and other important organs are not affected.
The most dangerous for humans is an alternating current . The thing is that the victim in such a situation cannot independently be freed from the wave, because the current causes erratic muscle contractions. The situation is further aggravated by the fact that during such contractions a person begins to sweat intensely, and, consequently, the conductivity of the skin improves. Often, victims of AC receive extensive burns and damage to internal organs incompatible with life.
It is important that a small electric shock can cause almost instantaneous fibrillation of the ventricles and atria, and then cardiac arrest. When a person is exposed to a high voltage current, death in most cases can occur as a result of any complications, including fibrillation.
High-voltage current causes extensive burns to the skin and surrounding tissues. It was found that during the passage of current through the human body, it is capable of producing temperatures up to 10,000 degrees, which causes inflammation of clothing. That is why doctors can observe burns directly of an electrical nature along with thermal burns (from a flame of fire).
The clinical picture of electric burns.
If electric shock causes the death of a person, then on examination he will find many small hemorrhages on the skin, mucous membranes, internal organs.
If a 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 they do not understand what happened to them. Collapse and respiratory arrest may occur. This moment is considered critical, as it determines the survival of the victims.
Immediately after the coma, the aggressive period begins. Patients are agitated, they begin to have strong chaotic muscle twitches, which sometimes lead to fractures and dislocations of the limbs.
If the patient previously suffered from peptic ulcer, then there is a great threat of extensive bleeding from the crater (bottom) of the ulcer. Also severe consequences are cerebral and pulmonary edema, which require intensive care.
The long-term consequences of electrical trauma include psychological and neurological disorders of a person’s normal state.