Which sign indicates heat stroke rather than heat exhaustion?

• A. Sweating and normal mentation
• B. Not sweating and red, hot, dry skin
• C. Normal mentation with sweating
• D. Temperature below 100

Answer: (B)

Heat stroke is a life-threatening failure of the body's cooling system, so it presents with very high temperatures and brain dysfunction. A key sign is that the skin becomes hot and dry because sweating has stopped or drastically diminished. Altered mental status—confusion, agitation, or even seizures—often accompanies this. That combination of no sweating with hot, dry skin points to heat stroke rather than heat exhaustion.

In contrast, heat exhaustion shows the body still trying to cool itself: the person usually sweats, the skin is moist or clammy, and mental status remains normal or only mildly affected, with a lower fever. So the description of not sweating and having red, hot, dry skin best indicates heat stroke.