been frequent this summer he said sudden loss of fluids due to physical exercise could take the body temperature past 40 degrees make blood pressure drop and make you faint the patient has to be laid on the ground with the limbs stretched wide apart to make the blood flow back to the body from the legs but its dangerous if it strikes on the road for people dont know how to handle such patients i came across a case last week where the patient almost suffered a cerebral stroke following a heatstroke said saha heatstrokes could be fatal warned the experts a constable succumbed to it in kolkata on tuesday those who have to spend long hours under the sun were at risk said bhattacharya it happens when the body temperature crosses 105 fahrenheit the bodys thermal centre gets disrupted and the heat control mechanism fails it requires immediate hospitalization and is the most common cause of death triggered by heat he said unlike electrolyte imbalance that has certain warning signals like irritability and altered behaviour heatstrokes are more sudden often the patient cant even fathom whats wrong it usually strikes when the patient is still outdoors said saha water has to be drunk judiciously to counter the heat said preventive medicine specialist debashish basu if you have been out in the sun for a long period salt has to be replenished quickly if you go on drinking plain water it may further dilute the bodys salt reserve and trigger an electrolyte imbalance or even a heatstroke basu said apart from the two potentially fatal illnesses thousands have also been suffering from minor heatrelated ailments like heat exhaustion respiratory tract infections common cold and waterborne gastrointestinal diseases unless the mercury slides down we shall have a steady stream of patients last year was marginally better but this time we have been flooded with patients suffering from heatinduced illnesses said rezaul karim senior radiologist at the sagar datta medical college precautions 1 drink 1012 glasses of water including at least two glasses of salt water 2 carry umbrellas and caps 3 have plenty of curd fruits and lemon 4 avoid high protein and fatrich food 5 take a bath at least twice a day 6 avoid fleeting in and out of airconditioned rooms