Hidden toll of carbon monoxide poisoning

DOCTORS are not identifying thousands of cases of carbon monoxide poisoning and are instead misdiagnosing its effects as flu-like symptoms, campaigners claimed yesterday.

Four deaths last week from carbon monoxide poisoning renewed attention on the problem of badly installed or maintained gas appliances.

But members of CO (carbon monoxide) Support claim the debilitating effects of exposure at non-fatal levels to the colourless, odourless gas are significantly under-estimated.

An environmental health officers' group, Health and Housing, found that one in 20 homes it surveyed showed evidence of low levels of carbon monoxide. Yet Debbie Davis, who founded CO Support after suffering CO poisoning, said many GPs still failed to consider carbon monoxide as a possible cause of ill-health.

Even low doses can cause flu-like symptoms, such as headaches, nausea, fatigue, memory loss and stomach cramps. "There are thousands of people who haven't a clue where their ill health is coming from," said Mrs Davis. "I think the problem is huge."

Dr Alastair Hay, reader in clinical pathology at the University of Leeds, said not enough was known about the long-term effects, but they were certainly being under-estimated and sometimes dismissed.

An inquiry carried out through CO Support revealed "many people had quite severe symptoms for up to two years after being exposed", said Dr Hay. Of 65 people who had symptoms of poisoning where a gas problem was subsequently found by an engineer, only one had been diagnosed with CO poisoning by a GP.

But Paul Davis, vice-chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said undergraduates studied toxicology and most GPs spent time in casualty where the subject would be addressed "in a fair degree of depth".

CO Support can be contacted on 0113 260 5112.