ATLANTA, GA — Carbon monoxide (CO), a colorless, odorless, tasteless, nonirratating gas, causes thousands of deaths per year. A seminar at ASHRAE’s Winter Meeting here took a look at consumer apathy, CO monitor inaccuracy, and contractor negligence in the 100-plus deaths attributable to fossil fuel-burning heating systems per year.
CO poisoning injuries can include apathy, disorientation, amnesia, and a range of neurological symptoms that can relapse, and that doctors frequently underestimate “because it mimics so many other things,” said Thomas E. Greiner, Ph. D., Iowa State University.