Md. reports two heat-related deaths

Maryland has recorded two more heat-related deaths, bringing the total for the year to 28.

State health officials say the victims were an adult Dorchester County resident with a serious medical condition and a senior citizen from Baltimore with heart disease.

There were just six heat-related deaths in 2009, thanks in part to a cooler-than-normal summer. There were 48 deaths in 2005, the most since the state changed the way it classified heat-related fatalities.

The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene reports that all but one of the 2010 deaths involved people with underlying medical conditions, most often heart disease. Fifteen of the people who died were adults between the ages of 18 and 64, and 13 were seniors.