The Cape summer has arrived, and with it a growing of heat stress / dehydration caseload.

The basic cause of this is very high temperatures, with a considerable proportion of patients being northern hemisphere visitors who have not yet aclimatised to the summer heat.

2 incidents on 2011/01/04, and four on 20011/01/05.

Fortunately, no lasting damage.

Rapid action by members of the hiking group of one of the patients on 2011/01/05, including the fact that they were carrying plenty of water with which they were able to cool her down, prevented lasting damage to their unconcious friend.

http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/western-cape/dehydrated-toddler-teenager-rescued-1.1008244

http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/western-cape/capetonians-feel-the-heat-1.1008674

Another response to these news articles has been News24's Health pages which published the following good advice:

http://www.health24.com/medical/Focus_centres/777-2268-3749-3756,13497.asp