Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Villamil, Daniel E.
• Navarrete, Norberto
• Cooper, Mary Ann

Titel

Keraunoparalysis and burning thatch: A proposed explanation for severe lightning injuries reported in developing countries

Ist Teil von

• Electric power systems research, 2021-08, Vol.197, p.107301, Article 107301

Ort / Verlag

Amsterdam: Elsevier B.V

Erscheinungsjahr

2021

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• •Burns from lightning in developed countries are usually minor and superficial.•Often, much more severe lightning burns are reported in developing countries (DC).•Keraunoparalysis after lightning involves motor and sensory loss in the extremities.•Keraunoparalysis may hinder people from leaving burning, lightning-unsafe buildings.•Keraunoparalysis is proposed as the cause of more severe lightning burns in DC. It is well known that lightning strikes produce direct and indirect consequences in power utilities and systems, which have been addressed by implementing lightning protection systems. However, dealing with the effects of lightning on people is different due to the complexity of the human body and the multiple mechanisms by which a person can be injured by lightning. While lightning injuries in developed countries seldom show significant burns, those killed by lightning in developing countries are often characterized as ‘charred’ or ‘burned beyond recognition’. Keraunoparalysis, an immediate but temporary paralysis of one or more limbs after lightning injury, occurs in many victims and may be the reason that even healthy individuals cannot escape from burning thatched buildings, explaining these descriptions in news reports. Keraunoparalysis and burning thatch make a deadly recipe.