Health. Does dry drowning really exist?

The expression still appears on certain websites of decentralized State services, referring to the National Institute for Prevention and Education for Health (INPES), which was succeeded by Santé Publique France in 2016...

" Dry drowning corresponds to the pulmonary consequences of immersion in water. The victim comes out of the water with an initial impression that everything is fine, while water has actually penetrated the lungs. This will cause lesion edema and a reflex closure of the airways in a second stage ," it is described.

Anxiety-provoking and improper…

The expression is now often discussed and considered inappropriate. It does not correspond to any real medical entity.

According to Dr. Rohit Shenoi, professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at the Baylor and Texas Children's Hospital ( Houston), it is said to have originated around autopsies of drowning victims, which revealed little or no water in the lungs.

" It has sometimes been used to describe symptoms appearing – most often in children, editor's note – a few hours, or even a few days, after swimming or a non-fatal drowning ", suggesting in an anxiety-provoking and false way that it would be possible to die several hours or days(!) after swimming...

Staggered symptoms, rather rare...

The doctor reminds us that " drowning is a breathing difficulty caused by immersion in water. It can be fatal or not.

Most rescued victims have minimal symptoms that improve within six to eight hours. If there are worrying signs of coughing and difficulty breathing within eight hours of drowning, the patient should seek medical attention .

He specifies: " Late symptoms, more than eight hours after drowning, in apparently healthy patients are rare ."

A non-fatal drowning?

It is also an opportunity to take stock of the drowning " non-fatal ." This occurs " when a person drowns and submerges their airway underwater, but is rescued.

She may lose consciousness and experience some difficulty breathing .

While " fatal drowning occurs when the airways are submerged and the lungs and brain are no longer supplied with oxygen, which leads to respiratory and cardiac arrest ," concludes the American pediatrician.

Source : Baylor and Texas Children's Hospital website, accessed July 16, 2025