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

随着气候变迁驱使夏季温度不断攀升且笼罩更久，加上更多美国人正迁入迅速扩张的西南部城市，接触户外高温表面而遭受严重烧伤的人也在增加。(美联社)

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

高温路面烧伤增 严重恐夺命

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.

随着气候变迁驱使夏季温度不断攀升且笼罩更久，加上更多美国人正迁入迅速扩张的西南部城市，接触户外高温表面而遭受严重烧伤的人也在增加。烧伤专家指出，对于有些伤者，其烧伤面积很广泛，以致造成致命后果。

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.

美国西南部最大烧伤中心、凤凰城谷智卫生医疗中心的亚利桑那烧伤中心，在2022年夏天期间，收治85名接触性烧伤患者。去年凤凰城曾历经连续31天温度超过摄氏38度，该项患者人数便爬升到136名，其中14人死亡。今年该中心已收治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.

外科医师、史丹福大学烧伤预防研究者薛克特说，「死于这类烧伤的人，并非只是脚上长了几颗水泡」。

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

「你的身体就真的是坐在那里烧煮」，薛克特补充说，「别人最后发现你时，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.

表面烧伤案例最多的地方莫过于地处沙漠的西南部，当地气温严酷、日晒毒辣。

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.

根据人口估计，凤凰城是美国成长最快的城市，拉斯维加斯都会区过去10年则已增加逾30万名居民。随着这些都市成长，烧伤风险也增加。沥青会吸收95%的太阳辐射，是接触性烧伤常见祸首。

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.

拉斯维加斯气温若达到摄氏46度，而上周一连7天均是如此，路面温度可能上看摄氏71度。在这种强度下，只要接触几秒就足以受到二度烧伤，而几分钟就会招致三度烧伤。在最严重案例中，烧伤可能侵袭深层的肌肉甚至骨骼。

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.

美国烧伤学会指出，遭受这些伤害的患者约40%需要动手术，以移除损伤组织并用植皮覆盖该部位。有些人会花上数周在医院康复。

文／Adeel Hassan and Isabelle Taft　译／高诣轩