The coldest month of the year is in full swing, and the City of Johannesburg says homeless people should beware of the creeping killer, hypothermia.
People are being encouraged to wear as much clothing as possible.
”We are also advising people to pack cardboard and newspapers in their clothes and shoes to keep the heat in.
”Even a black plastic dustbin bag can be wrapped around and used as a kind of windbreak,” said emergency services spokesperson Malcolm Midgley.
He said that with the colder winter this year, more cases of hypothermia are cropping up.
According to the South African Weather Service, this winter has seen a return to normal conditions, compared with the abnormally mild weather experienced in the previous two years.
”Overnight minimums will remain fairly chilly but not exceptionally so. We don’t really expect record coldness,” said Kevin Rae, assistant manager in forecasting.
He said early morning temperatures will probably remain just below zero, fluctuating between -1 and -4 degrees Celsius.
City of Johannesburg spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane said Johannesburg Emergency Services workers have been trying to advise people to guard against hypothermia.
Hypothermia is when body temperature drops from its normal rate of around 37 degrees. Mild hypothermia is when body temperature drops to between 32 and 30 degrees, severe hypothermia occurs below 30 degrees.
It can be fatal when body temperature drops below 27 degrees and the very young and very old are the most susceptible.
Most heat is lost through the ”core” of the body, where blood flows close to the skin such as the head, chest, armpit and groin, said emergency medical specialist Dr Charl van Loggerenberg
”If you wear a hat you can cut down the loss of body heat by around 20%,” he said.
”If you are wet or wearing damp clothing that can cause heat loss. Wind also draws heat from the body through evaporation.”
Shivering, stiff limbs, low blood pressure, a slow pulse and fluctuating levels of consciousness are all symptoms of hypothermia, he said.
If someone is suffering from these symptoms they should immerse their limbs, not the whole body, into warm water.
This helps to get the blood flowing through the anastomoses in the hands and feet — that, is vessels which bypass the capillaries and have a very high blood flow — directly to the body’s core. — Sapa