Written by
On 08.04.2023 at 07:00
Modified on 08.04.2023 at 7:00 p.m.
Bleeding is possible! But in how long? It all depends on the affected artery and how it is affected.
Loading…
If it’s a vampire that punctures a carotid artery with its canines, students at the University of Leicester (England) calculated in 2016 that it would take just over six minutes to drink 15% of the total volume of blood. of the body (thus forty minutes to drink the 5 liters that the human body contains on average), thus causing the first signs of weakness in the victim. It may seem like a long time, but the study authors assumed that the vampire would simply drink the blood – not suck it – through holes 0.5 mm in diameter.
Death in just over a minute
On the other hand, cutting a carotid artery or another major artery in which blood moves at a speed of 40 cm per second can lead to the loss of more than a third of the blood volume in just over a minute and lead to to death. In fact, during a haemorrhage, the body reacts by injecting water into the blood circuit which it draws from its own tissues in order to maintain the pressure of the flow and to ensure the supply of oxygen to the organs. But beyond a loss of a third of the blood volume, this mechanism is no longer sufficient.
Loading…
Bleeding that lasts for several days
Moreover, it is not necessary for the flow to be rapid to be dangerous. Internal bleeding following childbirth lasts for several days. 1.3% of women giving birth lose more than 1 liter of blood the day following birth, and 1‰, more than 2 liters, threatening the vital prognosis.
Some chronic haemorrhages are likely to last for weeks (ulcers, cancer, etc.), possibly causing the loss of up to two thirds of the total volume of blood. The body’s iron stores then become too low for the bone marrow to renew lost red blood cells.