紐時賞析／身體就像被燒煮…高溫路面燒傷案例增 嚴重恐奪命

隨着氣候變遷驅使夏季溫度不斷攀升且籠罩更久，加上更多美國人正遷入迅速擴張的西南部城市，接觸戶外高溫表面而遭受嚴重燒傷的人也在增加。(美聯社)

Burns From Scorching-Hot Sidewalks and Roads Are Rising, and Can Be Fatal

高溫路面燒傷增 嚴重恐奪命

As climate change pushes summer temperatures ever higher and for longer stretches, and with more Americans moving into rapidly expanding cities in the Southwest, more people are suffering serious burns from contact with hot outdoor surfaces. For some, the burns are so extensive that they prove fatal, according to burn experts.

隨着氣候變遷驅使夏季溫度不斷攀升且籠罩更久，加上更多美國人正遷入迅速擴張的西南部城市，接觸戶外高溫表面而遭受嚴重燒傷的人也在增加。燒傷專家指出，對於有些傷者，其燒傷面積很廣泛，以致造成致命後果。

In 2022, the Arizona Burn Center at Valleywise Health Medical Center in Phoenix, the largest burn center in the Southwest, admitted 85 patients for contact burns over the summer. Last year, as Phoenix sweltered through 31 straight days of temperatures above 38 °C, that number climbed to 136 patients, 14 of whom died. This year, the center has already treated 50 patients, and four of them died.

美國西南部最大燒傷中心、鳳凰城谷智衛生醫療中心的亞利桑那燒傷中心，在2022年夏天期間，收治85名接觸性燒傷患者。去年鳳凰城曾歷經連續31天溫度超過攝氏38度，該項患者人數便爬升到136名，其中14人死亡。今年該中心已收治50名患者，其中4人死亡。

“The people that are dying from these types of burns are not people who just end up with some blistering on their feet,” said Clifford C. Sheckter, surgeon and a burn prevention researcher at Stanford University.

外科醫師、史丹福大學燒傷預防研究者薛克特說，「死於這類燒傷的人，並非只是腳上長了幾顆水泡」。

“Your body just literally sits there and cooks,” Sheckter added. “When somebody finally finds you, you’re already in multisystem organ failure.”

「你的身體就真的是坐在那裡燒煮」，薛克特補充說，「別人最後發現你時，你已陷入多重器官衰竭」。

No place records more surface burns than the desert Southwest, with its punishing temperatures and relentless sunlight.

表面燒傷案例最多的地方莫過於地處沙漠的西南部，當地氣溫嚴酷、日曬毒辣。

Phoenix is the nation’s fastest-growing city, and the Las Vegas metro area has added more than 300,000 residents in the past decade, according to population estimates. As the cities grow, so does the risk of burns. Asphalt, a common culprit for contact burns, absorbs about 95% of the sun’s radiation.

根據人口估計，鳳凰城是美國成長最快的城市，拉斯維加斯都會區過去10年則已增加逾30萬名居民。隨着這些都市成長，燒傷風險也增加。瀝青會吸收95%的太陽輻射，是接觸性燒傷常見禍首。

When the air temperature in Las Vegas reaches 46 °C— as it did seven days in a row last week — the pavement temperature can climb to 71 °C. At that intensity, it takes a few seconds of contact to sustain a second-degree burn, and a few minutes to get a third-degree burn. In the most serious cases, a burn can affect the underlying muscle and even bone.

拉斯維加斯氣溫若達到攝氏46度，而上週一連7天均是如此，路面溫度可能上看攝氏71度。在這種強度下，只要接觸幾秒就足以受到二度燒傷，而幾分鐘就會招致三度燒傷。在最嚴重案例中，燒傷可能侵襲深層的肌肉甚至骨骼。

About 40% of patients require surgery for these injuries, according to the American Burn Association, to remove the damaged tissue and cover the area with a skin graft. Some spend weeks in the hospital recovering.

美國燒傷學會指出，遭受這些傷害的患者約40%需要動手術，以移除損傷組織並用植皮覆蓋該部位。有些人會花上數週在醫院康復。

文／Adeel Hassan and Isabelle Taft　譯／高詣軒