Guide to causes, symptoms, therapy and warning alarms for carbon monoxide poisoning
The danger of carbon monoxide poisoning should not be underestimated - according to official announcements by the Federal Statistical Office, 650 people died of carbon monoxide intoxication in 2017 alone. According to doctors, the number of unreported cases is high because not all carbon monoxide poisoning is treated and the symptoms are often attributed to other diseases. Even when the death certificate is issued, carbon monoxide poisoning (abbreviated CO) is not always ruled out beyond doubt.
WDR estimates that there are 5,000 cases of poisoning in Germany every year in connection with this gas. Basically, the toxic gas carbon monoxide is released when there is incomplete combustion of biomass, wood, coal or gas. In the USA, for example, 20,000 to 50,000 cases of CO poisoning occur every year - costing the American health system 1.3 billion dollars. While the number of fatalities is declining in the USA, the number is rising in this country.
Causes: How does CO poisoning occur?
Carbon monoxide is formed whenever there is incomplete combustion of material made of carbon. The prerequisites for incomplete combustion are high temperatures and a low supply of oxygen.
One cause of carbon monoxide accidents is when gas heaters create an exhaust gas backlog and people in rooms without sufficient air exchange inhale the dangerous gas for several minutes. CO poisoning also occurs time and again due to the improper use of wood-burning stoves, because either the air supply is insufficient or the exhaust gas discharge releases carbon monoxide.
If a person inhales the dangerous respiratory poison CO, it enters the bloodstream via the lungs. There it combines with the haemoglobin of the red blood cells. In doing so, it attaches itself exactly where oxygen (abbreviated O₂) would normally attach itself. The binding of CO to haemoglobin is much more effective than oxygen - consequently, the red blood cells can no longer transport sufficient oxygen.
Within a short time, carbon monoxide poisoning can lead to death. The gas is therefore highly dangerous for humans. Particularly treacherous: the poisonous CO is invisible and cannot be tasted or felt. It also penetrates rooms where there is no source at all - for example, bedrooms or children's rooms.
Symptoms: Signs of CO poisoning
Symptoms and signs of carbon monoxide poisoning are considered rather non-specific - this means that symptoms such as shortness of breath, headaches, cardiac arrhythmia and dizziness can easily be attributed to other causes such as lack of water. It becomes clearer as soon as unconsciousness or death occurs.
Another peculiarity of CO poisoning: The symptoms can also appear only 40 days after the actual poisoning. It is precisely then that the explanation that it is a case of poisoning with carbon monoxide becomes more difficult.
How severe the symptoms are depends on the CO concentration(source 1 and source 2):
Heat favours accidents with CO
During the heat wave in July 2019 with temperatures of up to 42.6 degrees Celsius in North Rhine-Westphalia, there were a whole series of accidents involving carbon monoxide - favoured by the heat, which was also great in flats or houses.
This is why fire brigades, chimney sweeps and other experts warn against carbon monoxide poisoning caused by defective gas boilers. When it is very hot, the problem is that the exhaust gases from the gas boiler are not warm enough to be safely discharged to the outside. Air conditioners and extractor bonnets with air exchange to the outside can increase this effect.
Therapy of CO poisoning
Treatment of smoke or carbon monoxide poisoning should begin immediately and no later than four hours after the accident in order to avoid long-term damage to health. This involves trying to get the carbon monoxide out of the body as quickly as possible. The therapy is also called CO intoxication. Pure oxygen is supplied at normal atmospheric pressure. This leads to a reduction of the half-life of the carbon monoxide from 320 minutes to less than 100 minutes. This acute therapy must always be applied as soon as the patient arrives at a hospital and carried out until all recognisable symptoms have been completely eliminated.
The therapy of CO poisoning goes one step further: In the so-called hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO), rapid detoxification takes place through overpressure in special oxygen chambers. This reduces the risk of complications occurring later. The following figures show how valuable this treatment is: Without HBO, neurological late complications develop in 15 to 40 percent of cases; with the therapy, this rate drops to 1.6 percent.
Carbon monoxide alarms save lives
So how can the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning be minimised? Anyone who operates a gas boiler in a small flat or has a wood-burning stove should definitely install a carbon monoxide alarm in their flat or house. There are devices in every price range on the market. Compact devices that are equipped with several sensors and are thus able to monitor the entire room air with all potential pollutants are advantageous. There are no alternatives to a sensor, because the toxic gas is not noticeable to pets either. Especially because of the sometimes considerable health consequences, a CO detector in the household is as essential as a mandatory smoke detector (according to current legislation).
The air-Q air quality analyser also warns of carbon monoxide. By connecting to the air-Q app for smartphones, tablets and web browsers, alerts can also be transmitted securely even if the flat owner is not at home.
(Image source: Image by Karsten Paulick on Pixabay)
