Tourists Keep Dying While Snorkeling. Researchers Think They’ve Found a Hidden Cause — Outside

I love snorkeling 🤿, but we need to be careful given this syndrome that can happen to anyone.  They recommend waiting a few days after flying, practice with your snorkel and fins before getting into the water, and only using snorkels that are easy to get off and have easy low resistance wide breathing tube. Never snorkel alone - always have a buddy 👍🏼

“The study was the first to link ROPE to snorkeling. Findings concluded that rapid onset pulmonary edema in snorkelers may be as common, or more so, than the accidental inhalation of water, which typically causes someone to react in distress. 

When snorkeling, we breathe against more resistance than we typically would, explained Dr. Han, Chief of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care at the University of Michigan Health. “When the body tries to inhale but is unable to do so or it’s hard to do so, it creates increased negative pressure within lungs,” she said. “This encourages fluid to cross over from the blood into the lungs.” When this occurs, the person can lose too much oxygen and become unconscious. “ROPE associated with snorkeling certainly can be fatal,” said Dr. Han, who noted that there is very little literature on this topic.”

Excerpt From
“Tourists Keep Dying While Snorkeling in Hawaii. Researchers Think They’ve Found a Hidden Cause”
Jen Murphy
Outside
https://apple.news/A0MD5Va2lRRCVAK3eWM191A

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