The symptoms of carbon monoxide exposure are similar to other ailments, including the flu
Laurence Hammack
The Roanoke Times (Virginia)
Copyright 2006 The Roanoke Times
On the same July day that carbon monoxide killed one person and sickened dozens at Roanoke College, the deadly gas led to the hospitalization of three children in Utah and the evacuation of an apartment complex in Chicago.
Although the Roanoke College incident was unusual for the large number of victims, carbon monoxide poisoning is not uncommon.
More than 15,000 people are treated annually in hospital emergency rooms for carbon monoxide exposure, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates, and about 500 people a year die from it. That makes carbon monoxide the leading cause of accidental poisoning deaths in the country.
Carbon monoxide incidents are likely underreported because the symptoms -- nausea, dizziness, headaches and fatigue -- are the same as for other ailments such as the flu, said Jerry Weiss, executive director of the Carbon Monoxide Safety Association.
“When you have an 85-year-old with respiratory problems or heart disease who passes away from low-level carbon monoxide poisoning, they attribute it to the flu, old age or just natural causes,” Weiss said.
Weiss said more awareness is needed in the medical community, which could be inadvertently placing victims back in harm’s way.
“You send them right back home to take a couple of aspirins and drink some fluids,” he said. “And you’re putting them right back in the environment that was causing the problems in the first place.”
The product of incomplete burning of solid or liquid fuels, carbon monoxide can come from automobiles, motor boats, furnaces, ovens, water heaters, charcoal grills, generators and other engine-driven tools. More unusual sources include batteries being charged, heaters for indoor pools and even tractor pulls held in indoor arenas.
More than half -- 55 percent -- of the carbon monoxide deaths counted in 2002 by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission involved heating systems. Another 28 percent were associated with engine-driven tools and 5 percent were linked to charcoal grills.
Seventy-one percent of the deaths caused by consumer products happened in the home, according to the commission. Men were 2.3 times more likely to die from carbon monoxide poisoning than women, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported, probably because they are more likely to engage in high-risk activities such as working with engine-driven tools.
Of the 188 deaths related to consumer products in 2002, just one was attributed to a gas-powered water heater similar to the one that caused the carbon monoxide leak last month at Roanoke College.