GPs Urged To Be On Alert for Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Symptoms

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The charity CO-Awareness backed by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) North West is urging GPs throughout the region not to overlook the possibility of carbon monoxide poisoning when patients present in their surgeries with flu-like symptoms.

An information leaflet on carbon monoxide poisoning (CO) and its symptoms is being sent to GP practices from Carlisle to Crewe and surgeries are being urged to send a representative to a CO awareness-raising event that is also open to the public in Liverpool Town Hall on Friday 21 November.

Lynn Griffiths, founder and President of Co-Awareness whose family lived with the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning for over 10 years and were lucky to survive it, said: “Builders had mortared over the outside of the flue-vent at our home and, despite regular servicing, this wasn’t spotted for over a decade.

“The entire family felt under the weather whenever the gas fire was on. We all had bad chests and a range of other symptoms. My youngest son who spent most of his early life in that environment was told by the GP that he had cysts and was suffering from reflux.

“Because the symptoms were worse in winter, our family doctor advised my late husband Albert to keep warm by the fireside, which was inadvertently increasing the hazard to him. I wonder how many GPs will give similar advice this winter. It really worries me.”

Carbon monoxide (CO) has no smell or taste and is invisible. It is responsible for 50 accidental deaths and nearly 200 serious incidents every year in England and Wales and it is believed that many more cases go undiagnosed.

George Kowalczyk, a toxicologist with HPA North West, said:

“Carbon Monoxide starves the blood of oxygen, causing the body to suffocate from within. At high concentrations, carbon monoxide can kill. People who are exposed to carbon monoxide may experience headaches, dizziness, nausea (feeling sick) and tiredness. High concentrations can cause people to become confused, they may collapse and become unconscious. Exposure to lower concentrations of carbon monoxide for a longer period may affect young people’s school work and an adult’s ability to concentrate and think clearly

“These symptoms will begin to disappear when the patient leaves the gas-filled environment or is removed from it. However, if no action is taken, the gas will continue to accumulate in the blood, eventually leading to brain damage or death if no action is taken.

“Anyone suspecting carbon monoxide poisoning should leave the area of risk immediately.”

CO-Awareness and the HPA are stressing that healthcare professionals should give serious consideration to the possibility of carbon monoxide poisoning in the following circumstances:

• More than one person in the house is affected
• Patients begin to recover when they leave the environment in which they became ill, such as their homes, holiday homes, caravans or hotel bedrooms
• The symptoms are associated with cooking, use of a stove, or when the central heating is switched on
• The symptoms are worse in winter when heating is in use.

Anyone who suspects a carbon monoxide build-up in a property should contact the National Grid Gas Emergency Line on 0800 111 999 or for more information visit the CO-Awareness web site: www.co-awareness.org