asphyxia
/əsˈfɪksɪə
/noun [mass noun]
A condition arising when the body is deprived of oxygen, causing unconsciousness or death; suffocation.They were transferred to our neonatal intensive care unit with a presumptive diagnosis of perinatal asphyxia....
- Until recently, it was widely believed that asphyxia (lack of oxygen) during a difficult delivery was the cause of most cases of cerebral palsy.
- The remaining cases included asphyxia, aspiration, sepsis, and unknown cause.
Derivatives
asphyxial
/ adjective ...- In spite of these considerations it is critical to note that asphyxial insults in the perinatal period do not account for the majority of infants with brain injury in early childhood.
- The authors believe that sofa sharing may cause asphyxial suffocation.
- He said the haemorrhages also raised concern: ‘They are usually associated with such things as strangular and asphyxial causes of death.’
asphyxiant
/ adjective & noun ...- The author has done justice to the chapters covering specific poisons such as corrosive poison, irritant poisons, neurotoxic poisons, cardiovascular poisons and asphyxiants.
- Hydrogen sulfide is highly toxic and can be rapidly fatal, inasmuch as it acts as both an irritant and an asphyxiant.
- As well as the nuisance factor of smells from H 2 S and organic compounds, there is the safety aspect: landfill gas is an asphyxiant, and is explosively flammable when mixed with air.
Origin
Early 18th century (in the sense 'stopping of the pulse'): modern Latin, from Greek asphuxia, from a- 'without' + sphuxis 'pulse'.