Staying Healthy in Extreme Cold Staying Healthy in Extreme Cold Extreme cold temperatures pose a substantial danger during the winter months. Prolonged exposure to the cold can cause frostbite, hypothermia, or even death. Persons most susceptible to extreme cold are infants and the elderly. Frostbite is a severe reaction to cold exposure of the skin that can permanently damage fingers, toes, the nose, and ear lobes.
Symptoms are loss of feeling and a white or pale appearance to the skin.
If these symptoms are apparent, seek medical help immediately. If medical help is not immediately available, slowly rewarm the affected areas. If the victim is also showing signs of hypothermia, always warm the body core before the extremities. Symptoms include slow or slurred speech, incoherence, memory loss, disorientation, uncontrollable shivering, drowsiness, repeated stumbling, and apparent exhaustion. If these symptoms are detected, take the person's temperature.