T75: Effects of other external causes

T75.4: Effects of electric current

If someone comes into contact with an electrical current, their health can be damaged in different ways. How severe the damage is depends, for example, on the strength of the current and the duration of the shock. Your heart may then beat too quickly, too slowly, or irregularly, for example. You may also have pain the area that came into contact with the current. The skin can also suffer burns. Muscles can also be damaged.

In serious cases, circulatory collapse can occur. The heart pumps blood through the blood vessels to the body. The blood then flows back to the heart through other blood vessels. Together, the heart and the blood vessels form the blood circulatory system. Blood supplies oxygen and nutrients to the tissue in the body. With a circulatory collapse, the heart stops pumping blood around the body.