Things that burn fuel generate carbon monoxide. This includes a lot of common, everyday appliances and other items in and around the home, including gas central heating, fireplaces, space heaters, wood-burning stoves, furnaces, water heaters and power generators.
The silent killer can creep up on the unsuspecting and it usually arrives with a leak or accumulates in a poorly ventilated area. Symptoms include fatigue, dizziness, nausea, headache and breathing problems, which many people believe are the onset of the flu, rather than the actual issue because medical problems usually develop slowly in a manner resembling typical illnesses.
In situations where carbon monoxide quickly accumulates – for example, when power generators flood a residence with fumes – those inside the house can develop confusion rapidly, lose muscle control and become drowsy. Those affected can die unless help arrives quickly. Many victims of carbon monoxide poisoning die in their sleep in such circumstances.
In the case of slow leaks, exposure to levels of about 1 to 70 parts per million does not usually trigger symptoms in healthy adults. However, symptoms start to occur when the exposure reaches higher than 70 parts per million, and great danger occurs when things reach 150 to 200 parts per million.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that more than 400 people die each year from carbon monoxide poisoning unrelated to a fire in the home, with more than 20,000 patients injured and more than 4,000 requiring hospitalization, including the particularly vulnerable: infants, the elderly, and people in poor health with respiratory diseases, heart conditions and anemia. Many of the victims were trying to heat their homes in a variety of unconventional ways, unaware that they were generating poisonous fumes along with warmth.