Which heat injury occurs when the body's heat balance mechanism fails?

Heat stroke occurs when the body's heat regulation mechanisms fail to maintain normal body temperature, leading to a dangerous elevation in core temperature. This condition is characterized by a severe disruption of the body's thermoregulatory system, which can be life-threatening if not promptly addressed.

During heat stroke, the body can no longer cool itself through normal means such as sweating, resulting in a rapid increase in body temperature and the potential for organ damage. Symptoms often include confusion, agitation, loss of consciousness, and the absence of sweating despite high temperatures, indicating that the body's cooling processes are overwhelmed.

Other conditions like heat exhaustion, which is marked by heavy sweating and a drop in blood pressure, or heat cramps, which involve painful muscle spasms, result from the body being unable to cope with heat stress but are not characterized by the complete failure of the body's heat balance mechanisms like heat stroke is. Hyperthermia is a broader term that refers to an elevated body temperature and includes both heat exhaustion and heat stroke but does not specify the failure of the heat balance mechanism as heat stroke does.