PUNE: The “cruellest” month of April is still not here, but sunstroke has already claimed the first life in Maharashtra this year with an 80-year-old woman recently dying at Paithan in Aurangabad.State health department officials said the woman died while working in a farm two days ago. Eleven cases of heat-related illnesses have been reported from Nagpur in the past few days. Doctors in Pune said 20% of their patients have started complaining of heat-related illnesses.“The woman died of sunstroke, though investigations behind the cause of death are currently under way. Reports indicated that the 80-year-old woman was at a market place when she felt uncomfortable. She was given first aid. But after she stepped out in the sun for a while, she collapsed. She was later found dead in the field,” said Pradeep Awate, state surveillance officer, Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme, Maharashtra.“It was not known if the woman ate anything. She was exposed to the sun for a considerable time, which may have triggered the sunstroke. Sunstroke is the final stage, which comes after exposure to severe heat conditions. The symptoms of sunstroke include high body temperature (106+F), hot and dry skin, rapid, strong pulse and possible unconsciousness,” he told TOI.“The patient is also unlikely to sweat because of severe dehydration. Severe cases of sunstroke have high mortality rate,” he said. The health department started compiling data on heat-related health conditions from March 15.“All the cases are from the Nagpur Municipal Corporation area and the death is from Aurangabad,” he said.Santosh Gosavi, president of the General Practitioners’ Association, said he has seen a 10% increase in heat exhaustion cases in the last eight days in comparison to the same period last year.Consultant physician Atul Biniwale suggested that keeping hydrated was the most important thing that one could do to avoid heat exhaustion.

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